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A 

NARRATIVE AND EXPOSITION 

OF THE LATE PROCEEDINGS OF 

NEW.EMLAND YEARLY MEETING, 

^ WITH SOME OF ITS 

SUBORDINATE MEETINGS & THEIR COMMITTEES, 

IN RELATION TO 

THE DOCTRINAL GONTHOVEUSY 

NOW EXISTING IN THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS: 

PREFACED BY A CONCISE VIEW OF THE CHURCH, SHOWING THE 
OCCASION OF ITS APOSTACY, 

BOTH UNDER THE FORMER AND PRESENT DISPENSATIONS. 
WITH AN APPENDIX. 

EDITED FROM RECORDS KEPT, FROM TIME TO TIME, OF THOSE 
PROCEEDINGS, AND INTERSPERSED WITH OCCASIONAL 
REMARKS AND OBSERVATIONS. 

Addressed to the Members of the said Yearly Meeting/ 

BY JOHN WILBUR. 

-m 

" For it had been better for them not to Rave known the way of righteous- 
ness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment 
delivered unto them."— 2 Peter ii. 21. 

*' Men talk as if we ought to speak leniently of the faults of a man who de- 
lights us by his genius or his talents. This precisely is the man whose faults 
we should be prompt to mark, because he is th« man whose faults are the 
most seducing* to the world."— Dymond, 186-7. 

NEW-YORK; 

PIEECY & REED, PRINTERS, IX SPRUCE STREET 
18 45. 



PREFACE, 



Inasmuch as our first parents, as individuals, were 
subject, through the wiles of the enemy, to a depar- 
ture from the puiity of the condition in which they 
were created, so it will be admitted by all true be- 
lievers, who have been conversant with sacred and 
profane history, that throughout every generation of 
their descendants, men have been liable, through the 
same beguiling influence, to fall from a better to a 
worse condition. 

Hence it follows, that as all religious associations are 
made up of individuals, that all such bodies of men 
are exposed to the same danger of a declension ; and 
for this reason it undoubtedly was, that the Lord God 
of Israel, through his servants iNIoses and Joshua, 
labored abundantly with his chosen people in exhort- 
ing them to a continuance of fidelity and obedience, in 
the keeping of his covenant with them, and commands 
to them — warning them against a lapsed condition, and 
assuring them of his judgments and indignation that 
must surely follow a departui'e from his commands. 

And thus we see that their future safety and preser- 
vation, consisted not in his having once chosen them 



4 



PREFACE. 



from amongst all the families of the earth with whom 
to place his name, but in their continuing to keep a 
single eye to the pattern which he had showed them in 
the mount. 

He had done wonders for them in delivering them 
from bondage, — he had brought them out with a high 
hand and an out-stretched arm, and had established his 
covenant with them as his peculiar church and people, 
and therefore required faithfulness at their hands, 
answerable to the favours which he had bestowed upon 
them. 

He had required them to love him, and to do jus- 
tice, righteousness and judgment in all things, through- 
out their generations — to abstain from idolatry, and 
from all the evils against which he had warned them : 
he had prohibited them from mixing with the surround- 
ing nations in their ways and manners of devotion — to 
come out from among them, and to be separate from 
them. 

Notwithstanding some of those nations believed in 
the same God in whom they believed, and held and 
practised some rites in common with them, and coin- 
cided with certain things which he had commanded 
them, such as their altars, their sacrifices, and their 
priest's services in offering upon them — rites which had 
been handed down from the first ages of time; figurative 
and prophetic of that most acceptable sacrifice of the 
Saviour of men, for the blotting out of the sins of all 
men, on condition of true repentance towards God, and 
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Yet, as the practices of those nations were in many 
essential points diverse and not according to the cove- 
nant which he had made with his Israel, and tended to 



PREFACE. 



5 



idolatry and the serving of other gods ; his people 
were therefore strictly forbidden to mingle with them ; 
not because there were no sincere people among those 
nations, but because their ways were not in accordance 
with the pattern shown to Israel in the mount. 

We find by following the history of this once favored 
and chosen people, and beholding, as we do, their 
gross departure from God's covenant, abundant evi- 
dence to show the necessity there was of warning them 
in the outset against anapostacy, and no less of his mercy 
in continuing from age to age to send his prophets and 
messengers unto them, to testify against the forsaking 
of his law, lest his statutes should be altogether disre- 
garded and trodden down by them. 

But, alas ! how many sufferings, reproaches and 
persecutions these his messengers had to endure, from 
the hands of those who had departed from the Lord's 
testimonies, because of their faithfulness to him. On 
the other hand, how many of those called, prophets 
were induced by bribery, were lured by the love, and 
driven by the fear of man, to prophecy smooth things 
— to flatter those in power, and to cry peace, peace ! 
when there was no peace. How many and unsparing 
were the gifts and honors bestowed upon men by 
those in power, for the strengthening of their own 
hands in iniquity, and for working devices against the 
Lord and his faithful servants ! 

But blessed be the Lord, a faithful remnant there 
was, (among the many hundreds that were called pro- 
phets,) who feared the Lord, that could neither be 
bought nor driven to forego the word of the Lord, 
nor to baulk his testimonies to please men. But an 
apostacy had so prevailed over the rulers of Israel in 



g PREFACE. 

that day, that many of the prophets were persecuted 
and slain for their constancy and faithfulness to their 
Lord and Master. The rulers of the people had be- 
come so lost to all that was good, that they took light 
for darkness, and darkness for light, and so persecuted 
the Lord's true messengers. 

But a reformation— a better day and a better cove- 
nant was seen to be coming, and was foretold by those 
persecuted messengers. And however long the dark- 
ness of that apostacy prevailed-however long the com- 
ing of a better day was protracted, it was not deferred 
until human nature had ceased to be human nature in 
the fall-a condition from which the Gospel power is 
only able ever to redeem ; but this redemption is 
effected only upon the condition oi faith and obedience, 
60 essential under the former dispensation, and without 
which fallen nature has been the same in every age, is 
abundantly e\-inced by the grievous lapse which has 
befallen the church under both covenants. 

Thus we see, however better the day, that without 
the obedience of faith, fallen nature, or the natural 
man, is the same, and no better under this than under 
the former dispensation. And those who are favored 
with the New Testament, and do not live in conformi- 
ty with its precepts, and come to experience the power 
of that religion which it inculcates, are even more 
reprehensible than those under the former covenant ; 
of whom many, with less outward advantage, came to 
witness in an eminent degree, that which was then, as 
now, the power of God unto salvation. 

By the events which have transpired, it would seem 
that the same liability of departing from the law of the 
Lord which existed in the Jewish Church, exists in the 



PREFACE. 



7 



Christian Church, and that individuals, as well as bodies 
of Christians, are as liable to degenerate through dis- 
obedience and unfaithfulness to the commands of 
Christ, as were those under the former covenant ; in- 
asmuch as the temptations of the old enemy are as 
artfully directed against the Chrstian as against the 
Jewish Church, and only detected by abiding in Him 
who is the Light of the world, and the Lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world. 

The lapse of the Lord's peoj)le, under the former 
covenant, is strikingly obsers^able in the lamentation 
over them : ^^Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, 
wholly a right seed : how then art thou turned into 
the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me ] " — ^ 
Jer. ii. 21. 

But to mark the consummation of the declension 
and final apostacy of the Jewish Church, we must refer 
to the time when Jesus Christ came into the world, 
and call to mind the great enmity and bitterness which 
the whole sanhedrim and rulers of that body betrayed ; 
their madness against Him and His doctrines, His 
ministry and mighty works. 

They denied Him and his mission, although Moses , 
in whom they trusted, had spoken so plainly of him, — 
they made and spread abroad among the people, all 
manner of false reports and wicked accusations against 
him; and made a decree that any one who confessed 
him to be the Christ should be put out of the syna- 
gogue ; and their influence and the fear of them, — 
the bribery, the friendship and other means to which 
they resorted, succeeded to an astonishing degree in 
bringing the Saviour of men into great disrepute 
among the people ; and even made the Jewish nation 



8 



PREFACE. 



generally believe him to be a deceiver, a dangerous 
person, and a disturber of the peace, and that there- 
fore he ought to be put to death. 

Finally, they bribed Judas Iscariot to betray him 
into their hands ; and in that great concourse which 
was assembled at his trial before Pilate, (where only 
two of his disciples dared to come,) there was not so 
much as one who raised his voice against his being put 
to death. 

By these high professors he was put to death — under 
great pretensions, and professions of religion, and a 
zeal for the support of the law and covenant which 
God had ordained to them as a people ; making great 
boasts of their ancestors, and of being the children of 
Abraham, whilst they were doing the works of their 
father, the devil, and were his children. 

We are assured that eleven out of the twelve of his 
Apostles, and many others who stood faithful to His 
Gospel, suffered the like from their cruel hands. 

With these wicked rulers, the chief Priests, the 
Scribes, the Pharisees, and the learned Rabbis, termin- 
ated the Jewish dispensation. 

When the spirit of this world rules in the hearts of 
the children of disobedience, whatever they profess as 
to religion, or whether they make no profession at all ; 
whether priests or levites, scribes or pharisees, or 
mere men of the world, it matters not, if destitute of 
the spirit and love of God, they persecute the Saviour 
of men, and his disciples the children of light : for 
there is an enmity existing between the spirit of the 
world and the spiiit of God — the flesh warreth against 
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh — consequent- 



PREFACE. 



9 



ly the children of this world war against the children 
of God. 

It was, by that spirit of this world and of darkness 
which rebels against the light, that Christ and his fol- 
lowers were persecuted and put to death, by the Jews 
first, and also by the Gentiles: for his religion truly 
was, to the high professing Jews, a stumbling block, 
and to the wisdom of the Greeks foolishness ; because 
the darkness which was in them, could not compre- 
hend it. 

But after the Jewish nation was dispersed, the 
Christian church continued to grow and increase 
greatly, although her sons were persecuted and slain 
in large numbers by the heathen nations : and death 
— to them welcome death — was almost continually in- 
flicted by the hand of man, and became to them the 
happy passport to an entrance into the fruition of light, 
and the realms of eternal glory with Him, for whose 
cause they had dared to die. 

Thus the tribulations of those who were loyal to 
their Lord, whose mission to this lower world was 
made perfect through sufferings, were sanctified and 
productive of a crown of life ; whilst those who were 
not faithful unto death, through the fear of man or love 
of the world, were cast off forever and denied the tree 
of life. 

What a glorious pattern, therefore, were the early 
Christians in suffering for the name of Him who had 
given the example before them ; and to which example 
has been added these precepts — that it is enough for 
the servant to be as his Master, and the disciple as his 
Lord. Fear not them that kill the body, and have no 
more that they can do ; but I will forewarn you whom 



10 



PREFACE. 



ye ought to fear, &c. ; for to those who know God, 

and the Will of God, his fear surpasses the fear of man. 

What shame and blushing, therefore, ought modem 
professors to take to themselves, flinching as they do, 
when their sufferings, whether by the hand of false 
brethren, or from the world, are so entirely incompara- 
ble with the sufferings of Christ and his early followers. 

But in process of time the Head of the Church was 
pleased to say it is enough, and saw meet to prove his 
people by the reverse of personal suffering ; then per- 
secution ceased, and ease and luxury succeeded ; a 
soil in which the life and power of religion was less 
prolific : and a t7'mt and reliance on the Divine support 
was gradually less apparent, the love and friendship of 
the world began to take root in too many of the influ- 
ential members of the Church ; a plant which could 
not so well flourish under persecution. 

Subsequently, for want of sufficient self-denial and 
true humility, the love of power increased in some of 
the honorable, and in time a junction with the earthly 
power ensued, and a disposition for greatness, and to 
give and receive honor one from another, began to 
prevail, and that honor which cometh from God and 
belongeth unto God, was less regarded and less in- 
culcated, and at length profanely transferred to men. 

And the title of Reverend, Right Reverend, Holy 
Father, and Most Holy Father, was ascribed to men 
— was called for and most sacrilegiously given and 
received by men ! by vain and sinful men ! to the 
pampering of the pride and haughtiness of man : thus 
shamefully robbing God of that reverence and honor 
only due to His Great and Holy Name. This consti- 
tutes idolatry in its legitimate form. 



PREFACE. 



1 



The sin of avarice, and love of rule, and of absolute 
power, took deep root in the hearts of those seekers 
after divine honors. And as their authority increased 
and became established, great and most oppressive re- 
quisitions were made upon men's consciences and 
estates : and the Christian discipline by which the 
church in its purer days had been conscientiously and 
faithfully governed, was now disregarded and made to 
give place to the will and pleasure of Popes, Bishops, 
and Synods. 

These men, or this body of men, thus assuming 
divine honors, did, in their collective capacity, claim to 
be the Church, or body of Christ — the Holy Mother 
Church, and with great boldness asserted their own 
infallibility, and that the Church could not err — that 
her decrees and determinations were imperious and 
paramount to all former doctrines or discipline, or even 
to the Holy Scriptures themselves ; and punished all 
gainsayers of their doctrines and practices, with ex- 
communication, or imprisonment, or with death. 

It is abundantly evident, that the deeper the church 
became involved in error, the more boldly she pro- 
claimed her authority and infallibility. It is no less 
evident that an apostacy of the church has always led 
to persecution ; and that sufferings under persecution, 
faithfully and patiently endured, have tended to a re- 
formation. 

The Christian exercise of the true church's labor 
and care towards those who have lost their way, is 
Discipline. But the annoyance of honest men and 
women for well doing, is Persecution. The former 
was ordained of him who is supremely good — the latter 
is an abomination in the sight of God. Again, the 



12 



PREFACE. 



former is exercised in tlie love of God, but the latter 
in the hatred of the wicked One. 

The advancement of any people, in moral or religi- 
ous righteousness, is truly more cheering and hopeful 
to an honest mind,irand vastly more well pleasing in 
the sight of God, than a retrograde course, and that 
without any reference to the point already arrived at. 

But that body which descended from the primitive 
Christian church, and became degenerated, has never 
been wholly reformed, although divers notable at- 
tempts were made for that purpose, at different times 
between the third and sixteenth centuries, notwith- 
standing a solitary remnant of sincere believers came 
out and stood in a situation of detachment from it, 
during that period. But the regal power of the 
Romish church was exceedingly great — combining 
with, and encompassing the authorities of many earthly 
kingdoms and empires ; and before whom, with a Pope 
at their head, a Huss and a Jerome, with a great 
number of others, fell victims to their ferocity. 

Will any protestant say, that these martyrs were not 
raised up of God as witnesses against the ecclesiasti- 
cal corruptions, because of their failure of success ? 
Will any such presume to make that failure chargeable 
upon a want, on their part, of integrity or purity of 
intentions, or yet upon the want of a Divine commis- 
sion, to testify against the atrocities of the church % 
For is it not a true saying, that the blood of the Mar- 
tyrs is the seed of the church 1 And can there be a 
doubt, that the death of those unflinching and un- 
daunted men, gave energy and resolve to those who 
followed after ? So that their lives and sufferings are 
not lost, but cherished in the sympathies of all honest 
protestants : and does not their patient indurance of 



PREFACE. 



13 



the most cruel persecations, tend to encourage every 
tender heart to greater faithfulness in suffering ? 

But the enquiry arises, what could induce these 
rulers to inflict the punishment of death upon the 
Martyrs ? Not the spirit of the meek and lowly Jesus, 
whose kingdom was not to be supported by carnal 
weapons, but whose religion is love ; and who came 
not to destroy men's lives but to save them. 

Was it not their insatiable avarice and voracious love 
of power, grounded in malice, which led to many 
crafty inventions for their own aggrandizement, and 
the grasping of wealth, and carnal indulgences, that 
led them on to those atrocious deeds ? For their 
craft they saw was in great danger, if men of such 
principles, and such Christian eminence as the mar- 
tyrs were, should be suffered to go at large, and to 
promulgate their doctrines. 

In time, through the good providence of Almighty 
power, more men were raised up and made instru- 
mental in bringing about a partial, though notable 
reformation ; to the breaking down in some degree, 
the power of the Roman Hierarchy. And although this 
beam of gospel light, did not at once fully dispel the 
whole cloud of papal darkness, yet it did discover to 
the reformers, some of the greater evils. 

Whether the minds of men in that day were not 
prepared to endure the full radiance of the gospel light, 
as it shone upon the primitive believers ; or whether 
the papal yoke was too strong to be entirely broken 
ofl[ by the hands of these witnesses, I will not pretend 
to determine : suffice it to say, that God saw mete that 
such advancement should then be made. And be it 
remembered, that even this was at the expense of 



14 



PREFACE. 



many lives of his faithful martyrs ; though not to the 
full accomplishment of a perfect reformation. 

And, however, they broke the ground by faithfully 
renouncing some of the grosser errors of the popish 
church, yet they retained and unhappily brought out 
w^ith them the spirit of war, retaliation and persecu- 
tion, which never existed in the primitive Christian 
Church, together with a deal of formality and useless 
ceremonials, which had been imbibed and accumulated 
during the dark ages of the church's apostate condi- 
tion. 

And in some instances, in the escaping of one great 
error, the reformers invariably fell into another in an 
opposite direction. They were right in denying the 
merits and works of Romish observances, of likenesses, 
and imagery, of holy relics, the mass, indulgences, 
&c., &c. But at the same time entirely overlooked 
the spiritual work of God to be wrought in man, and 
through the gift of the Holy Ghost hy man, in the obe- 
dience of faith, to the regenerating of the heart : they 
erred in placing their trust in faith alone without regard 
to that work wrought by the power and spirit of 
Christ tin the heart, to the regeneration of the soul, 
whereby He subdues and crucifies the old man with 
his deeds ; — in a dependence upon a faith which stands 
alone, and which is not the gift of God ; and, there- 
fore, not a living faith that worketh by love ; but a 
faith that is well pleasing to the unregenerate man. 
If barely believing in Christ, and that his death and 
sufferings alone^ would save men, who would refuse so 
much as to believe, and to ascribe much honor to 
Christ for justifying and saving them through his own 
sufferings without them, and without the painful en- 



PREFACE. 



15 



durance of the baptism of fire and Holy Ghost in 
themselves. 

Under these and other like circumstances it was, 
that the protestant believers, although they had faith- 
fully witnessed against many of the Romish supersti- 
tions, fell Into a state of ease, relaxation, and the 
indulgences of a carnal mind ; still trusting in man, 
and in the advancement which they had made, and so 
rested far short of fully attaining to the life and power 
of true Christianity which had been lost in the apos- 
tacy. Then the Lord was graciously pleased to stir 
up and to visit many minds, with the day spring from 
on high, for the blessed purpose, not only for salva- 
tion to those individuals, but for a further reformation, 
and final consummation, and establishment of true 
vital Christianity among men. 

And by means of this visitation, many became un- 
easy and dissatisfied, with the lifeless formalities which, 
yet remained in the Church, and longed in their minds 
to find the living and sustaining substance, of which 
the customary rituals and outward performances then 
practiced, were but a figure ; and of which they took 
place, not to the satisfying or removal of the sins of 
the flesh. 

Among these seeking and awakening souls, was 
George Fox. He, through deep meditation ; waiting 
upon and dv/elling with God in spirit, was made a 
chosen instrument in unfolding the religion of Jesus 
Christ, moie perfectly agreeable to the New Testa- 
ment ; and was endued with a remarkable gift of dis- 
cernment of the condition of men, and in the mystery 
of true godliness ; that it stood not in form but in 
power. And with great meekness and Christian cour- 



16 



PREFACE. 



age, was enabled to combat the sins of the age in 
which he lived : and more clearly to instruct and to 
direct those seekino; souls to the teachinor of Christ in 
the inner man, by his light and good spirit : and to 
bring them off from trusting in man, and from those, 
who like the Papists, were still making a trade of the 
Gospel, a thing unknown in the piimitive days of the 
Church. 

To this faith and ministiy, and to the covenant of 
the pure Gospel of peace, many were gathered. 
These separated themselves from the spirit and friend- 
ship of the world, (so ]3revalent among the professors 
of that day.) for the purpose of restoring primitive 
Christianity in the life and power of it, to the purging 
of the consciences of men, through the inward opera- 
tions and purgations of the Holy Ghost, to the doing 
away, (at least among themselves,) of war, retaliation, 
and oppression, as well as a hireling ministry : all of 
which had been introduced into the Church under its 
degenerated condition. 

This doctrine, which inculcates the belief in Christ's 
teaching his people himself; and the faith that every 
true believer has access to God through him ; as also 
the testimony against war and a hireling ministry, 
spread alarm among the clergy of that day. 

Hence, as the number of the Quakers increased, 
the clergy began to have fearful ap^^rehensions as to 
the safety of their callings, or the continued enjoy- 
ment of their salaries ; and consequently, resorted to 
the exercise of their influence, (which was then great 
in England,) for the purpose of disaffecting the minds 
of the people against this, to them, new doctrine, of 
free grace, and a free ministry; and soon succeeded in 
raising a storm of persecution against these unresist- 



PREFACE. 



17 



ing Christians. And they, the priests, successfully in- 
voked the civil powers to their assistance ; so that the 
spoiling of goods, imprisonment, and even death itself 
was often inflicted upon this unoffending people ; when 
nothing could be laid to their charge, but obedience to 
the law of their G-od, in honestly promulgating the 
doctrines of Christ and his Apostles as exemplified in 
the New Testament, and thereby to carry out the 
reformation which the first reformers had begun. 

Here then was seen, protestants inflicting persecu- 
tion upon their fellow protestants; (similar to that 
which those of the Roman Church inflicted upon one 
another ;) and only for the reason that the latter were 
consummating the good work that the former, or their 
predecessors, had begun. And the evidence to prove 
that the first reformation was not complete, will be 
found in the consideration that the former had not 
arrived fully to the ground of primitive Christianity, in 
that they yet retained the spirit of domination, v/ar, 
and a hireling ministry, creating jealousy and hatred 
against the greater excellency — -against the free teach- 
ing of the Gospel. And no greater evidence need be 
called for, to establish this point, than to show that they 
persecuted their fellow professors for well doing. 

And Grod's permission of the deep sufferings of the 
many messengers whom he had sent to bear witness 
for him, is no evidence against the validity of their 
mission or calling. Their sufferings were as seed 
sown, and the fruit to be gathered in G-od's providence 
in after generations — by those who are accounted 
worthy also to suffer for the name of Him who died 
for them ; whilst those who have lifted U23 their cruel 
hands against the Lord's humble messengers, are 
equally reprehensible, whether those messengers were 



18 



PREFACE. 



prophets or aposrles, or early Christians, or modern 
reformers, however unsuccessful any of them may ap- 
pear to have been, in obviously leforming the church 
from a lapsed condition, or of having effected a refor- 
mation. Here allusion is made to such instances as 
those of Huss and Jerome. 

It appears by the testimony of Jesus Christ our 
Lord, that the persecutors of that day were chargeable 
with the blood of the prophets that were slain, from 
righteous Abel to the days of Zacharias, who perished 
between the altar and the temple ; and whether more 
or less reprehensible, modern persecutors are, under 
the light of the gospel day, and themselves professing 
to be Christians, the reader will judge. 

Suffering for righteousness' sake, is diffusive of the 
spirit of righteousness, not only for the time being, but 
to after generations. And this diffusion of the Spirit 
tends to gatlier to the cause espoused by the sufferers. — 

A sword shall pass through thine own soul, that the 
hearts of many may be revealed'' — "If I be lifted 
up I will draw all men unto me." His gathering 
spirit should extend to all men, through the power of 
his death. 

But among the sufferers for righteousness' sake, 
Jesus Christ stands above all and over all — His suffer- 
ings were propitiatory, and a sacrifice for the sins of 
others, as well as procurative in the ordering of God's 
power and wisdom, of an immediate and universal 
pouring forth of his good spirit ; whilst the sufferings 
of prophets and apostles, and all the faithful martyrs, 
though not propitiatory, nor immediately influential, 
are mediately influential, through our outward know- 
ledge of their great and unflinching faithfulness to 
Christ the Head over all. 



PREFACE. 



19 



Human nature itself would never be a Christian 
martyr ; and human reason alone could never compre- 
hend why God should yield his faithful servants to the 
power of wicked men, because it sees not as He sees 
— be cannot see how success can grow out of a de- 
feat. And even the disciples of our Lord themselves, 
whilst his body lay in the grave, felt as though his 
mission was defeated. But after his resurrection, and 
after he had taught them of the necessity and purpose 
of his sufferings, and had breathed the Holy Ghost 
upon them, then their understandings were opened, 
and they were made not only to see the power of his 
sufferings for the establishment of his cause, but were 
made willing to suffer themselves, for his sake and for 
their own sake, as well as for the honour of that cause 
and those testimonies which he had published and or- 
dained, and to follow his example of non-resistance. 

But the successors of Huss and Jerome, for want of 
more of the understanding here alluded to, seemed to 
apprehend a defeat in tlceir death ; and to retrieve their 
cause unhappily resorted to unchristian means, as did 
also the Waldenses, eventually, in support of them- 
selves and their good cause, and the result plainly 
shows, that the cause of God cannot be promoted, nor 
his work made to prosper, by resorting to an arm of 
flesh, instead of trusting in His power. 

One thing is very observable, that the peaceable, 
unresisting, and patient endurance of persecution, by 
our early friends, as dictated by the precepts and spirit 
of Christ, has hitherto been apparently instrumental 
in terminating to a great extent, persecution among 
protestants ; an influence, which we have reason to 
believe, has also reached the Roman Catholics. 

And persecution is a thing so heinous, and so irre- 



20 



PREFACE. 



concileable with the law of Christ, that we may well 
say it was never inflicted by one true Christian upon 
another, or upon any other person. Discipline, the 
church of Christ has always had — not for wounding 
but for curing — not for the annoyance nor restraining 
of him who reprobates the evil, but for reproof to him 
who doetJi evil. 

But seeing the liability of men and Christians to a 
declension and departure from the immediate govern- 
ment of truth, as individuals and as a body, induced 
George Fox and his fellow helpers to institute and es- 
tablish a written disclipine, both for the Church and 
for the members, as a guide to the ordering of Church 
government, and for the deciding of all questions that 
might after arise in the society. 

They were aware that the same liability existed in 
the primitive church; and that a sad departure from 
the meekness and true Christian spirit of right govern- 
ment, did by degrees actually take place with their 
successors, and saw the great benefit that a just and 
wholesome system of discipline set up and established 
during the purer condition of the church, under the 
authority of truth, would have been to those who fol- 
lowed after, if adhered to by all. 

Under these considerations, it undoubtedly was, that 
the discerning minds of our first Friends saw the im- 
portance of a written system of Christian discipline, 
set up and established under the dictates of truth, and 
by the consent and authority of the whole church col- 
lectively, for the future government of the yearly 
meeting, and its subordinate branches, and for the re- 
proof and reclaiming of disorderly walkers, as well as 
for the praise of them that do well. 

Coincident with a written discipline, a written con- 



PREFACE. 



21 



fession of faith was also adopted in the society, as ex- 
emplified in the writings of the first friends, and agreed 
to by the whole society. And these doctrines were 
fully recognized by the discipline, and summarily in- 
corporated in it. And whosoever therefore deviated 
either in faith or practice, became subjects of dealing 
by the true intent of that discipline, be their outward 
standing or condition in the church what it may. 

Hopeful, and in a good degree successful had the 
administration of this discipline been, when in the 
hands of faithful men and women, acting under the 
authority and benign influence of the spirit by which 
it was dictated, in guarding against innovation, and hon- 
estly laboring for the safety of the society. And the 
only ground of fear which may be entertained, of a 
final lapse or departure from that discipline, is a defec- 
tion of principle — in the ruling members of the body. 

But notwithstanding the many advantages with 
which the society is favored, the reasoning is undeni- 
able, that if unhappily the " leaders of the people" 
should become apostate in principle and practice, as 
did the successors of the Primitive church, that excel- 
lent system of doctrine and discipline handed down 
by George Fox and his cotemporaries, would not 
govern their proceedings ; but would be disregarded 
or shaped into a mere automaton, and turned in an 
unhallowed manner to almost any direction, or made 
to serve almost any purpose that such men might 
choose, and finally be changed into an instrument of 
persecution ! 

Notwithstanding the great and helping hand of such 
a system of discipline ; is not the deepest concern- 
ment to the church under our name, involved in the 
rectitude of the rulers 1 And in the inquiry whether 



22 



PREFACE. 



this people are more secure and less liable to an apos- 
tacy than was the primitive church. Is it not obvious 
that when the heads of the tribes begin to zx^ jpeacey 
peace, and to preach up the safety and infallibility of 
the church and of themselves, that the greater danger 
awaits it, as in the middle ages Yes ; and then it is 
that the wakeful and faithful sentinel sees the greater 
cause of alarm and the most imminent danger. 

And how many deeply exercised and afflicted la- 
borers could be named, from the days of George Fox 
down to the present time, who have watched over this 
people as they have watched over their own souls : 
and how often have they trembled with fear for the 
church's safety, when they were made to see in the 
visions of light, that an enemy had entered the camp : 
and how faithful to give the watchword of alarm, and 
to cry aloud for the awakening of the ^rmor bearers, 
lest, while men slept in security, the city should be 
broken up. 

And whether there is danger of a departure from 
doctrine or discipline, or of the leaders of the people, 
lording of it over the heritage, and causing the people 
to err, at the present time, the watchful and sincere 
reader of the following history of measures and pro- 
ceedings, will be prepared to judge. 

The following narrative has been taken from records 
made at the time when the events took place, and is 
offered to the members of the Society of Friends in 
New England, and, if practicable, to the awakening 
of all to a sense of our condition, and to the necessity 
of a soundness of faith, and a scrupulous regard to our 
discipline. 



INTRODUCTION. 



By way of Introduction, it appears proper to add the 
following, taken from the author's documents, or 
records of things which transpired in England, or came 
to his observation during his visit to that country, in 
the early part whereof his mind was brought into deep 
exercise by the unexpected discovery of a spirit at 
work, in the minds of some of the influential members 
of our society ; which appeared to him to be at vari- 
ance with the estabUshed and well known doctrines 
and testimonies of friends : and as he advanced in his 
religious engagements, more and more of this spirit 
was brought to view, in a manner which led him to 
suspect that the society was, at least in some danger, 
either of a retrograde lapse, as a body into a similar 
state of things from whence it came out i or otherwise 
of a rent or division ; if its members generally could 
not be awakened to the perils which he. thought await- 
ed them, or induced more decidedly to rally to the 
standard which George Fox and his fellow helpers set 
up against the spirit and friendship^ of the world : as 
well as against the ceremonials and false doctrines 



24 



INTRODUCTION. 



which then remained among the protestant professors 
of Christianity. 

Finding this departure so formidable, on account of 
the talent and station of many of those concerned in 
it, his mind was brought into great distress, and mourn- 
ing over the flock of God, once so loyal to the precepts 
of Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant. But 
now alas ! in this very land where this standard was 
first set up, (after the apostacy,) a departure from first 
principles was seen among some of the leading mem- 
bers ; the consideration of which was very afflicting at 
times during his sojourn in that land. 

He saw, or thought he saw, the great subtilty of the 
enemy, (in taking advantage of the Hicksite heresy, 
which led off* on the one side from the true doctrine,) 
working on the minds of those who were the most 
prepared to forsake the original ground of vitality : so 
that whilst they were guarding against a fatal lapse on 
the one hand, he might the more easily and unsuspect- 
edly plunge them into another as destructive on the 
other hand, — both insiduous and defective in relation 
to the true faith in the offices and attributes of the 
Saviour of men. 

It was under these circumstances and apprehensions, 
that the author wrote a series of letters whilst in that 
country, to his friend G. C, which were by him pub- 
lished, for the purpose of apprising, at least, some of 
his friends, of this exercise and concern, and with a 
desire that both of these extremes and departures 
might be avoided. 

These letters drew upon their author, as well as 
their publisher, the great displeasure of those in Eng- 
land, who were disposed to confound Hicksism with 
primitive Quakerism. They came out on the eve of 



INTRODUCTION, 



25 



the publication of their avowed sentiments to that 
effect ; which they soon after published in a work 
called the Beacon," and which also contained many 
other sentiments^ which stand directly at variance with 
the fundamental doctrines of friends. Many of the 
abettors of these opinions soon after separated them" 
selves from the society, and set up meetirgs of their 
own; and much better would it have been for the 
society, if all at that time, who held opinions discord- 
ant with those of R. Barclay, had withdrawn from 
friends, and openly avowed their real sentiments on 
the Christian leligion : if indeed they were beyond 
the reach of being reclaimed. 

Subsequently, when the author returned to America, 
a number were not wanting in New England, who 
instead of strengthening his hands in that important 
concern, as they ought to have done, hesitated not to 
condemn his letters and the publication of them, and 
thereby much too nearly committed themselves to the 
views which those letters were intended to counteract, 
affirming, that the state of things in England was 
not such as called for the waiting of those letters," 
They professed to know more of the state of things in 
that country, than one v/ho had mingled largely with 
the society there, and had held conversation with most 
or all of their principal characters. 

But the coming out of the Beacon" soon after, 
and the author of it being strongly supported, as he 
was, by divers leading and influential characters, put 
the question out of all dispute with sound friends, that 
those letters were needful on the occasion and publish- 
ed at the right time, — -that it was highly important that 
something of the kind should have been laid before the 
society at that time. 



26 



INTRODUCTION, 



The author of these letters does not pretend to say, 
by any means, that they were the best thing that could 
have been done on the occasion ; but he does say, that 
seeing the sentiment was getting abroad in England 
that primitive Quakerism was nearly allied to, if not 
the same thing as Hicksism, that something of the kind 
was very needful to set forth and define the vast differ- 
ence between them, as well as to controvert another 
idea put forth there, viz. '' that the leading characters 
now in England, were equal, if not superior to G. Fox, 
W. Penn, R. Barclay, and their cotemporaries ; and 
that if the early Friends had not come out until the 
present day, Quakerism would have been a very dif- 
ferent thing!'' 

Whosoever attentively reads that publication called 
the Beacon" will find its grand object w^as to con" 
found primitive Quakerism with Hicksism ; and then 
by reading the letters above mentioned, it will be 
plainly seen that one of the leading objects of them 
was, to show the distinction, and to set forth the utter 
disparity betw^een the sound Christian doctrines of 
our first friends, and the doctrines of Elias Hicks."* 

When that pernicious book called the " Beacon," so 
subversive of Quakerism, as well as of vital Chris- 
tianity, reached this country, the writer of this, under 



* In attempting to prove that Hicksism is in, accordance with 
primitive Quakerism, tiie Beaconites and Hicksites are in this one 
thing well agreed, and equally dislike and condemn those letters. 
By a reference to Joseph J. Gnrney^s Brief Remarks upon Scripture 
Passages, it will be found that his views evidently approximate- to 
theirs upon the same subject. 

In. that book, in his attempt to refute our early Friend's doctrine^ 
he boldly charges their views of Scriptm-e passages with error and 
heresy" — with aiding that tremendous process ol' heresy in America^ 



INTRODUCTION. 



27 



the same concern, used his best endeavours to prevail 
on the meeting for sufferings for New England to 
testify against its sentiments, but his labours in this 
respect were unsuccessful. 

It is believed to be due to the editor of the following 
narrative, to state that he did unwaveringly, on all 
suitable occasions, express his dissatisfaction with the 
sentiments of Elisha Bates, when he last attended 
New England Yearly Meeting as a minister, and after- 
wards until his apostacy was fully developed, whilst 
some of the prominent members of our Yearly Meet- 
ing spoke highly in commendation of him. 

But the denial of the writings of our early Friends, 
by Joseph John Gurney,* is no less palpable than 
either E. Bates or Isaac Crewdson's ; w^hich is easily 
proved by a reference to the writings of the former, 
hereinafter brought to view. And it is as easily proved 
that the prominent members aforesaid did, and have 
continued to support and defend the said J. J, G., 



* Ourfrequent and almost only recuiTence, by way of objection, to 
the doctrines of J. J. Gurney in this exposition, is not on account of 
any thing of a personal nature, nor yet because there have been no 
other objectionable sentiments written by any who are now mem- 
bers of the Society ; but because his are of the greatest notoriety, 
and very extensively spread in America, as well asm Great Britain 
and Ireland. 

The writings of Edward Ash, of Bristol, (England,) ai'e probably 
as defective as those of J. J, G., but not of so much celebrity, nor 
yet spread much, if at all, in America ; and therefore unknown to 
the American reader ; as also are others of less note. 

Wain says, But eveiy man who makes a pubhc declaration of 
his ophiions, with the avowed design of converting others, subjects 
them to pubhc discussion, and has no right to complain, if those who 
believe them to be unsound, endeavom- to counteract their effects," 



28 



INTRODUCTION. 



although he rejects and openly controverts some of 
the essential doctrines of Robert Barclay, and others 
of the early approve rl writers ! 

The doctrines of J. J. G. contained in his "brief 
remarks on impartiality in the interpretation of Scrip- 
ture, are of the same cast wdth the Beacon," and so 
nearly agreeing in substance, that a wise man could 
scarcely distinguish the purport of the one from the 
other. This book has been fully endorsed before the 
public, by the Beaconites. And we are most credibly 
informed, that they declare their sentiments, such a^ 
are at variance with those of Friends, were suggested 
to them by the writings of J. J. Gumey. 

Each of these writers have published doctrines es- 
sentially at variance with those of the religious society 
of Friends, which being earned out and adopted, must 
unavoidably undermine Quakerism, and it is self evi- 
dent, that whosoever openly defends or advocates either 
of these men, commits himself to, and identifies himself 
with the doctrines of the man whom he thus defends 
against the Society ; and the more especially so, if that 
defence be made upon the occasion of others opposing 
such doctrines. This course has been unhappily pur- 
sued, and to a fearful extent, by those j^rominent mem- 
bers of New England Yeariy Meeting, to whom allu- 
sion has been already, and will be more frequently 
hereafter made. 

The intelligent reader will readily recognize in such 
committal, the groundwork of the present controversy* 
as will fully appear in the subsequent part of this 
work. 

It is apprehended that a loss, in a greater or less 
degree, of the Virtue, Life, and Power, of pure Chris- 
tianity, has prepared the minds of too many in the 



INTRODUCTION. 



29 



Society of Friends, to imbibe sentiments which are at 
variance with true self-denial, and a full conformity to 
the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, consequently, 
with his doctrines, as held and laid down by the early 
writers in our Society. That a great tendency out- 
ward, and to outward views and outward things, has, 
of late, been apparent in this once greatly favored 
Society, is very obvious. 

Consequently the sentiments of some writers, who 
have not known the living savour^of the Divine life 
to predominate in their own hearts, (or otherwise have 
lost its unction.) have sorrowfully spread and taken 
root in many minds. 

And the authors of such sentiments appear to have 
obtained great place with many of our members, and 
to have much influence over them. 

Moreover the great schism and fearful departure 
from the Christian covenant on the one hand, in the 
Society farther west, has furnished the enemy with 
vast and powerful machinery, to delude, deceive, and 
draw off, from the same covenant on the other hand, 
insomuch that many of those who were not caught in 
the snare of that apostacy, called Hicksism, have been 
of late in great jeopaidy, by the influence and insidi- 
ous sentiments of persons of genius, high standing, 
and great learning in the schools of men, tending to 
draw away from the same gospel covenant in an op- 
posite direction. 

These having lost, or never found that hidden trea- 
sure of this covenant, as revealed by the Divine Power 
in the inner man of the heart, have taken offence at 
the law and the restraints of a meeFand lowly Saviour, 
and so far imbibed the spirit of this world and of the 
age, as to despise the foolishness of the Cross, which 



30 



INTRODUCTION. 



is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and not 
of man, nor of the flesh, but of God. 

Instead of submitting, therefore, to die with Christ, 
and to abide the painful struggle of yielding up the 
will and wisdom of the flesh, these have moulded and 
fashioned to themselves a substitute, by professionally 
extolling and claiming the faith of Christ's incarnate 
sufferings and propitiatory sacrifice upon the Cross 
without the gates of Jerusalem, as the wliole covenant 
of salvation, and by Him thus accomplished without 
them ; and, consequently, it is feared are carnally be- 
lieving and trusting in this alone for justification, with- 
out its essential concomitant, the true obedience of 
faith, and the work of sanctification wrought in the 
heart. 

These views, and many other of the like tendency, 
ha^dng been avowed and published by Joseph John 
Gurney, a member and professed minister of the So- 
ciety of Friends in Norwich, Old England, and spread 
far and wide among Friends, have been the cause of 
great uneasiness and much dissatisfaction in the minds 
of faithful Friends; land the more, because many are 
found among us who are disposed to advocate and de- 
fend the author of them, without, and in the lefusal of 
an examination of his published sentiments, or a com- 
parison of them wth our^ acknowledged and well 
known doctrines. 

The fact that the author of these views is a man of 
great influence, and [having many supporters of a 
similar description, does indeed give cause for much 
alarm among the living members of this Society, well 
knowing, as they do, by the history of things that are 
past, as well as by those which have transpired in their 
own time, that the existence of these troubles, in the 



INTRODUCTION. 



31 



church of Christ, as occasioned by an apostacy from 
sound doctrines, have always had their beginning in a 
little obvious diverging, or departure from some essen- 
tial points of doctrine. 

As two direct lines which begin to diverge from 
each other, (though barely apparent at first.) if they 
continue, will, in time, come to be at a great distance 
asunder. 

So these have seen, that when men of a strong and 
independent temperament begin to depart from the 
fundamental testimonies and doctrines of a religious 
society, they go wider and wider therefrom, until a 
great departure from the true meridian is effected, or, 
to speak more plainly, until they adopt sentiments en- 
tirely foreign to those from which they at first, (but 
perceivably,) departed. 

Some of these concerned Friends, who have re- 
mained at their posts, have watched over the ^'land- 
marks" of Israel's inheritance, as they have watched 
over their own souls, and can but tremble for the safety 
of the Ark of his testimonies, when, with their eyes, 
they behold the demolishing of those stakes, of which 
the good Shepherd of the fold ordained that not one 
of them should be removed."' 

And, notwithstanding what they have fearfully be- 
held, of that which they apprehended was an attempt 
to obliterate and to cancel those distinguishing signals 
of our profession and its defence, they have marvelled 
to hear so many of the watchmen cry peace ! peace ! 
when the citadel itself is beset by a troop of strong 
men. They believe that so great a loss cannot other- 
^Yise be sustained, either by us or by the world at 
large, as would be sustained by the breaking down of 
our distinguishing doctrines and testimonies. And, 



32 



INTRODUCTION. 



consequently, they see the great necessity of keeping 
a single eye to their safety, and a scrupulous watchful- 
ness against " every appearance of evil," that may in 
the least forebode an apostacy of pnnciple, inasmuch 
as such did happen, to a sorrow^ful extent, to the 
primitive church — the best of bodies — and that too by 
small beginnings. 

Furthermore, these concerned friends have felt not 
a little responsibility resting up6n themselves, and 
upon the church at large, by reason of the committal 
to its charge and keeping of the most exalted, efficient, 
and dignified principles vouchsafed to the hand of man 
in these modern times, or in any age of the world, 
because they are the same as committed to the primi- 
tive church, in all that relates to Christian redemption 
and salvation. And they have also felt something of 
the weight of that appeal which was made of God to 
his Servant, the Prophet Ezekiel, chap. iii. 28 ; also 
xxxiii. 8, 9. If thou do not warn my people from 
their ways, they shall die in their iniquity, but their 
blood will I require at thy hands," &c. 

Moreover, the late attempts at innovation, by those 
above alluded to, sjDeak loudly as a warning to us of 
the jeopardy which awaits us as a people ; fur our 
unfaithfulness and disloyalty to the blessed Truth is 
such, that Satan appears to have availed himself of 
the advantage of our relaxation, and seems resolved 
to divide and scatter us fiom the true faith ; still we 
hear the cry of peace ! still we hear the language of 
safety reiterated among us ! still we see a jDrevalent 
disposition to trust in man, and to make flesh our arm ! 



NARRATIVE AND EXPOSITION. 



The above-named J. J. Gurney, on a visit to 
America, came to New England, in the 6th month, 
1838, and found the ground already prepared in 
many minds to receive and defend him, notwith- 
standing the defection of his doctrines. 

These persons whose minds had been thus pre- 
pared, had evidently been for some years seeking 
for the control and dominion over New England 
Yearly Meeting, and over all its concerns, in vrhich 
they had been successful. 

And being men of influence, and disposed to avail 
themselves of all means within their reach, (which 
were not in any vrise very limited.) whereby to 
clothe themselves with rule and with power — have 
drawn many to them, or after them, by their prof- 
fered friendship — by promotion in appointments — 
by the honor of man, and by temporal favors, be- 
stowed in many ways. By these means they have 
encompassed (however unsuspected their object by 
many) a great proportion of those who were active 
members, as well as others, and have promoted and 
made active, many who were not so before. 

And those who have not fallen into these new- 
views, have not been desirous of office or control in 
2* 



34 



NARRATIVE AND 



the church, and consequently have not put them- 
selves or one another forward much for appoint- 
ments. And, more especially of late, perceiving a 
disposition in those of the new ground to exclude 
them, have mostly refrained from action. And at 
the last annual assembly, these were entirely exclu- 
ded from taking a part in its concerns, by the sup- 
porters of unsound men and their doctrines, deciding 
to reject from any service the names of all such as 
had expressed themselves opposed to the previous 
proceedings of the Yearly Meeting — thus declaring 
such out of unity — a measure which had already 
been adopted and acted upon by Rhode Island 
Quarterly Meeting. 

Those who had thus assumed the control in the 
Yearly Meeting, formed from their own number, 
standing committees therein, as also committees of 
Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, and clothed them- 
selves with authority to visit and control subordi- 
nate meetings, and consequently to control the reli- 
gious rights of all their members: and these commit- 
tees have not been backward in exercising this author- 
ity. And further, the Yearly Meeting, through their 
influence, has of late made its committee's advice 
and decisions conclusive and final ; so that appeals 
from their advice, either by individuals or subordi- 
nate meetings, to the Yearly Meeting, is unavailing, 
however contrary to discipline their advice or de- 
cisions may have been. 

In the 11th month of 1839, John Wilbur felt him- 
self bound vmder a religious concern, to visit most 
of the Quarterly Meetings in the Yearly Meeting, 
and was cordially liberated by his own Monthly 
Meeting for that service : and after having visited 
one Quarter and some of its subordinate meet- 
ings, was cited by one of these committees, to ap- 
pear before a deputation from their body. But their 
letter not arriving seasonably for him to meet them 
at the time and place assigned, he called on the 



EXPOSITION. 



35 



writer of that letter as he passed on m pursuance 
of his journey — his having made a stand against the 
new doctrines by writing to some ministers and 
elderSj as well as by conversation, was alleged by 
the writer of the letter as a disqualification for 
travelling in the ministry ; but J. W. was enabled 
to convince him that he ought to be left at liberty to 
pursue his journey — and he did so. 

When the said J. J. Gurney first arrived in New 
England, there was a report in circulation that he 
had made satisfaction to his friends at home on ac- 
count of his exceptionable waitings ; but J. W. 
being aware, through direct communications from 
England, that the report w^as unfounded, (a matter 
of great importance for the Society to know) took 
an opportunity with J. J. Gurney, and informed 
him of the apprehensions of many friends in regard 
to his sentiments, as set forth in his books, and so 
extensively abroad in the Society: and suggested 
to him the desirableness of his satisfying friends in 
relation to such of his doctrines as were not in 
conformity with our acknowledged principles, and 
thereby open his OYm way among us. 

But instead of giving any encouragement of do- 
ing so, he entered into a prompt defence and justifi- 
cation of all his writings, v/ithout exception. 

In consequence, therefore, of the result of J. W.'s 
visit to the author, he believed it to be his religious 
duty to caution friends, on suitable occasions, 
against receiving or imbibing the unsound doctrines 
alluded to; and at the same time making direct 
reference to some of the most exceptionable among 
them. 

On John Wilbur's return from his eastern visit, 
he produced certificates from all the Quarterly and 
Monthly Meetings which he attended, expressive 
of their satisfaction with his services among them. 
And soon after his return from this journey, he ob- 



36 



NARRATIVE AND 



tained the concurrence of his Monthly Meeting, and 
attended the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia. 

But his travelling as a minister, on account of 
his objection to those doctrines, was displeasing to 
those who were supporting and defending the au- 
thor of them. 

It being apparently too much of a circum- 
stance frequently to call together the Committee 
of the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders : 
and further, as the Committee of the Yearly 
Meeting at large was not authorized to recognize 
ministerial service, a way was devised to get a 
committee appointed in the Select Quarterly Meet- 
ing ; and if practicable, to be vested with authority 
to take hold of him, and to stop his speaking against 
the doctrines of J. J. Gurney ; or travelling as a 
minister. ^ 

To effect this, deficient accounts were brought 
up in relation to unity, from two subordinate meet- 
ings, where themselves predominated, professedly 
for the purpose, and under the pretention of be- 
stowing labor in the cases referred to in those ac- 
counts, a committee was appointed, ostensibly for 
the restoration of unity and harmony.^' Howbeit, if 
their own confession is sufficient evidence, we are war- 
ranted in saying, that they never attempted any la- 
bor of the kind, whatever, within the Kmits of those 
two meetings from which the defective accounts 
came up ; although more than four years have 
since elapsed, and the committee have been dismiss- 
ed from their appointment. 

John Wilbur was called upon to meet this com- 
mittee the next morning after its appointment ; and 
they artfully attempted to make him a subject of 
dealing, and to decoy him to place himself within 
the purview of their appointment, by asking him 

* The accounts which went up at this time from South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, to which J. W. belonged, were unexceptionable 
as to unity. 



EXPOSITION. 37 

the question, " whether he beheved any of the 
members of our Select Meeting were unsound 
expecting, as was supposed, an affirmative answer ; 
and if so, then here, as they might think, would be 
a case of disunity fairly within their reach. But 
their object was seen, and the question not answer- 
ed, although all the committee, save one, joined in 
pressing him to answer it. Being defeated in this, 
they severely reprimanded him for having been to 
Philadelphia, accusing him of having known that 
they were unwilling he should travel in the minis- 
try. But this charge, of knowing it, he was able 
to meet, by adducing what some of them had said 
to him and others, during his eastern journey. One 
of the committee had said, in a letter to his daugh- 
ter, that '^tliey had no desire to stop Ms travelling 
in the ministry T and another, vvho met with him on 
the journey, said " he was glad to meet with him 
therer 

But they brought many other complaints and ac- 
cusations against him, of which the principal was, 
that "he had written and spoken against J. J. 
Gurney, and had spread long lists of extracts from 
his doctrines.'' [For an account of these charges 
and his defence see his letter to this committee, and 
the vindication of it, further on.] 

He now informed them that he had not spoken 
to the disadvantage of J. J. G., otherwise than by 
a recital and disavowal of some parts of his doc- 
trines : and in order to show them that those parts 
of his writings to which he had made exceptions 
were unsound, and consequently that the course 
which he had taken was correct and agreeable to 
discipline, he proposed reading to them the extracts 
which he had taken ; and which they had charged 
him with spreading. 

But they were unwilling to hear him read these 
extracts, and conceded there might possibly be 
some things in the manner of his expressions that 



38 



NARRATIVE AND 



would be deemed exceptionable. But J. W. in- 
sisted on readins: these extracts, in order that the 
committee misrht know lioic unsound his doctrines 
xcere, (believmg that his defence rested upon 
their demerits.) but the committee appeared ex- 
ceedingly unwilling to allow the reading of them, 
and the dilemma in which they were now placed, 
apparently drew from D. B., one of their number, 
the expression, "I acknowledge that some of J. J. 
Gurney's writings are very unsound." But for 
this imprudence, D. B. was immediately jogged by 
J. M., one of his colleagues w^ho sat near him, and 
who dissented from his concession, by saying, " I 
should not have said so." 

Finally they utterly refused to hear his defence 
or the reading of the extracts from Gurney's doc- 
trines, and gave him very little opportunity of any 
oral vindication of himself in relation to the charges 
brouo:ht a2:ainst him, bv reason of their own claims 
upon the time ; freely and in close succession be- 
stowing upon him their censures, and demanding 
from him immediate concessions, accompanied with 
the advice " to stay at home and to be quiet." And 
so this interview ended. 

Thus being denied a full, and fair personal hearing 
which truth and justice always allow^s, even to the 
greatest offenders, John Wilbur resorted to pen, 
ink and paper : and through this medium addressed 
T. A., the ffrst named of the committee, with whom 
he had heretofore stood in the relation of great in- 
timacy ; which address is further on. 

To this letter, both himself and his colleages de- 
clined altogether to make any reply, or to attempt 
a refutation in writing; yet they did not fail to re- 
sort to personal declamation and high sounding 
words in an interview which they called for in the 
early part of the Yearly Meeting at New- 
port, 1840, with an evident design to alarm him ; 
and to induce him to condemn, not only the course 



EXPOSITION. 



39 



which he had taken, but also the letter which he 
had written to them. And because he hesitated, 
conscientiously doing so, cast upon him many re- 
proaches, and the epithet of stubbornness, and a 
disposition to resist his friends and the good order 
of society. They also now denied the intimation 
in the letter, that one of their number had said that 
some of J, /. Gurney^s doctrines loere very unsound. 
And D. B. himself denied ever saying any such 
thing. And they further declared that no one would 
know by reading the letter, any thing about what 
transpired at their meeting at Greenwich. 

At a second intervievv, during the same Yearly 
Meeting, they read to him a paper, which, as they 
said, was from a friend who felt much concern for 
him ; but at the same time withheld from him the 
name of the writer, as well as the document itself ; 
proceedings which he thought reflected no great 
honor upon the writer or the presenters thereof. 
But its contents were not such as to give any unea- 
siness to him whom it was evidently designed to 
annoy. 

During these interviews, in which the committee 
evinced much excitement, J. W. was favored to 
endure their reproaches and revilings without re- 
vihng again ; and to make no concession or conv 
promise of principle. 

In justice to one of the committee, Andrew 
Nichols, (since deceased) a fellow member with J. 
W., of the same Monthly Meeting, it ought to be 
said, that he was a minister of sound principles ; 
and that he was named incidentally on the commit- 
tee. He was, whilst living, of singular service to 
J. W., and to the good cause which he vv^as con- 
cerned to support. He saw the letter in question, 
read and approved its contents ; and of its being 
forwarded to the committee, previously thereto. 

The fourth meeting of the committee, with some 
additions to their number, was held at Portsmouth, 



40 



NARRATIVE AND 



R. L, and J. W. was cited again to meet with them, 
to which he acceded. 

The committee now attempted reading extracts 
from his letter to them, against which they were in- 
tending to join issue ; but he objected to their read- 
ing extracts from his letter without first reading the 
whole letter, and the more, because a number of the 
committee now present had never became acquaint- 
ed with its contents, except by hearsay ; and be- 
cause also, T. A., one of their number, had told him 
that he had placed upon it, with pen and ink, the 
inscription oi falsehood, J. Wilbur's arguments for 
either reading the whole letter, or else for not 
reading the extracts from it, though strongly op- 
posed by some, finally prevailed. 

After the letter w^as read^ some attempts were 
made, (though feeble) to read extracts from it, in 
order for refutation, but in this course they pro- 
ceeded not far ; inasmuch as J. W. now called for 
their objections in wanting, both to the course which 
he had taken in the first place, and to the letter it- 
self, distinctly and severally giving their reasons 
for such objections. 

This seemed to throw the committee into con- 
siderable disorder ; after which their proceedings 
were irregular and desultory. At one time they 
would declaim against his making a defence against 
his friends ; and at another time they would accuse 
him of having taken false premises in his letter : 
and again D. B. came forward in a denial of saying 
at Greenwich, " that some of J. J, G.'s writings 
were very unsound," (Why need he, for the saying 
was very true.) and attempted to change the ground, 
by now adopting this version of it, to wit, " For ar- 
gument sake I will admit that some of J. J. G.'s w^rit- 
ings are very unsound." And J. M., the one who jog- 
ged him at Greenwich, and remarked, " / should 
not have said so," now responded to the truth of D. 
B.'s present version of it, and said, I remember 



EXPOSITION. 



41 



these were D.'s expressions. Why then, asked J. 
W.J did thou jog D. at Greenwich and say, " / 
should not have said so.f' But before this query, 
to which J. M. made no reply, several of the com- 
mittee had endorsed his present statement of it. 

Finally, as Andrew Nichols had said nothing to 
this disputed point, they called on him to testify in 
regard to it : and though a diffident man, he did 
say to David, the words which thou hast now pre- 
fixed, were not prefixed at Greenwich, thy words 
then were, " I acknowledge that some of the doc- 
trines of J. J. Gurney are very unsound.'' And so 
ended this part of the discussion. 

After having been together near four hours, they 
began to talk of what course should be taken, inas- 
much as the object of their meeting had not been 
attained. Two of the committee proposed to burn 
the papers and drop the subject altogether; but 
others hesitated. J. Wilbur had complained of the 
injustice and severity of their charges thrown out 
against him — of the aspersion of falsehood endors- 
ed upon his letter, saying, that he had never, in 
speaking of them, or of J. J. Gurney, made use of 
such language. In answer to which T. A. said, 
" I don't think that John Wilbur meant to say any 
thing in that letter which was untrue." J. W., 
after resuming his request to be furnished with their 
complaint in writing, withdrew in order to remove 
all embarrassment from their deliberations. 

From this time J. W. heard nothing of the in- 
tentions of the committee until the holding of the 
select Quarterly Meeting at Sommerset, in the 
11th month following, wherein his sufferings were 
by no means inconsiderable in consequence of their 
bringing the case to view before that meeting ; but 
silence was believed to be his lot and ground of 
safety. After meeting, he was called upon to meet 
them that afternoon at 3 o'clock ; but not feeling 
I'eady in his own mind therefor; and having other 



42 



NARRATIVE AND 



good reasons therefor, he decHned an interview on 
that day, but informed them that he would wait on 
them the next day, or at any future time, as they 
would best hke. Accordingly he was notified the 
next day, after Quarterly Meeting, to meet them on 
the following morning at the Boarding School at 
Providence, to which he agreed, and met them 
there accordingly on 6th day, morning, the 6th of 
11th month, to wit, six men and two women. And 
after a short pause R. G. rose and said, that pass- 
ing over J. W.'s speaking of a friend travelling in 
the ministry to his disadvantage, they would pro- 
ceed to read such passages from his letter as were 
not satisfactory to the committee, and so proceeded 
to read them. To which objections J. W. now felt 
at liberty to make some remarks and to reply some- 
what in course ; but withal again claiming the 
right of being put in possession of their objections 
on paper. 

With a view of sustaining their charge of false- 
hood against his letter they had taken the ground at 
a former interview, that their censure of him was not 
for objecting to Jos. J. Gurney's doctrines, but for 
speaking against J. J. Gurney himself. But, never- 
theless, their first and prominent charge against him 
at the first interview, was that he had " spread long 
lists of extracts from Jos. J. Gurney's doctrines." 
It is true, that when at that interview, J. W. attempt- 
ed to justify his having done so, by showing the un- 
soundness of those doctrines, they feigned to make 
shift, in order to avoid the exposure of them even 
among themselves, to let go the complaint, which 
they had thus emphatically preferred against him, — 
and attempting to discriminate between the man and 
his doctrines, to make their charge against him for 
objections to the man only. Which latter charge 
they never could, nor can they ever substantiate, 
and consequently by this wily contrivance to shift 
their hold, their whole fabric falls to the ground. 



EXPOSITION. 



43 



Now, at this meeting at Providence, in order to 
bring them back to their first charge, and the only- 
one as is beUeved which they can make He against 
him; he enquired of R. G., who in opening the case 
at this time, spoke " of passing over what J. W. 
had said against a friend travelhng in the minis- 
try," as above ; J. W. enquired of them whether 
they were now disposed to rehnquish their first 
charge against him of " spreading long lists of ex- 
tracts from that friend's doctrines," to which 
several of them responded, No, oh no. And al- 
though J. W., at Newport, did not feel himself at 
liberty, even to clear himself from many of their 
accusations ; yet now such restraint was removed, 
and his mind was free, and opened in clearness, 
and strength was given to speak in defence of the 
good cause, and to exculpate himself from blame 
in so far as he had been endeavoring to guard it 
against innovation. 

And it was not long the committee pursued read- 
ing extracts, because of their objections being so 
fully answered, choosing rather to object to the let- 
ter in a more summary way ; and alleged that J. 
W. had, by that letter, " implied that the commit- 
tee were unsound as to their religious sentiments." 
To this he rephed, " that no body of people, or in- 
dividuals, had any occasion to fear that a charge 
of unsoundness could be made to lie against them, 
if they had not accused or identified themselves 
therein by things which they had said or done — 
that if this committee would come forward and now 
disavow and condemn the unsound doctrines of J. 
J. Gurney, as himself had done, there was no one 
who would attempt to implicate them therewith : 
and " he earnestly and affectionately entreated them 
to do so for the clearing of themselves from all im- 
putation." 

This proposition and entreaty brought much 
solemnity over the company, and silence prevailed 



44 



NARRATIVE AND 



until he found it right to speak further, and to tell 
them, that they had found much fault with him in 
relation lo expressions in the letter, and that him- 
self had susceptible feelings as well as they, and if 
they would give him leave, he would remind them 
of a few expressions and movements of their own 
which had been afflictive to him, and then paused 
for liberty to proceed. After standing for some 
time, he subjoined, if friends are unwiUing to be 
thus reminded, I will take my seat ; but soon rose 
again, and revived the saying that silence gives con- 
sent, and then proceeded to tell them that because 
he conscientiously hesitated to condemn his letter at 
Newport, that they " charged him with stubbornness ; 
and also, divers times, said " that no one could tell 
by his letter any thing about what transpired at the 
first interview," [making the whole document a 
fabrication.] And further, at Portsmouth, had 
" pronounced the premises therein taken to be false, 
and the conclusions therefore to be false and un- 
sound," and had inscribed this upon the letter. 
And in the select Quarterly Meeting but a day or 
two previous, had opened the subject in a manner 
altogether uncalled for and unnecessary, unless it 
was needful to reproach him in that open manner. 
Silence again reigned, until he again proceeded, the 
committee also required of him to hear them read 
to him an anonymous letter, reflecting unfairly upon 
his proceedings, and which letter or paper was 
withheld from his possession. An act which he 
thought the most extraordinary that he had ever 
known to be practiced by those called friends. 

Not the least reply was made to this exposure of 
their injustice. 

It was now very observable that the committee 
(for the present) were somewhat softened and 
moderated ; and consented that J. W. should be 
furnished with their objections to his letter on pa- 
per, or with a copy of his letter with their objec- 



EXPOSITION, 



45 



tions designated in the margin. And agreed that 
T. A., who was not present, should, if he was wil- 
ling, furnish him with them in the one form or the 
other. But still before we parted, they so far re- 
covered their former feelings, that they, or indi- 
viduals of them, were disposed to annoy him with 
questions, if not to entrap him, in an unprovoked 
manner, a process, in such a case, as dishonorable 
as it is unchristian. But the result was, that the 
answer to every question they asked, as well as to 
every accusation they made, tended to their own 
disappointment. 

On the 28th of 12th month following, came R. 
G. and T. A. of the Select Quarterly Meeting Com- 
mittee to South Kingston Monthly Meetings, and at 
the close thereof, called together the ministers and 
elders ; and when convened, R. G, stated to them, 
that a misunderstanding existed between the Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committee and JohnWilbur, a mem- 
ber of this meeting, on account of a letter which he 
wrote to them, and which letter w^as very dissatis- 
factory, and apprehended that the members of this 
select meeting had been misinformed, and therefore 
had not a correct knowledge of the case. That 
they of the committee had now called the members 
together in order to give them a right understand- 
ing of it. To this T. A. subjoined, that the letter 
alluded to, contained things that were untrue^ and 
again repeated it, contained things that icere not 
true. And then proposed reading extracts from 
the said letter, for the information of the meeting. 
But J. W. proposed the reading of the w^hole letter, 
because divers of the members had never seen it, 
and because there was a chain of connection 
throughout, showing a relation of one part with 
another. And, however, the reading of the whole 
letter was strongly opposed by these two commit- 
tee men, yet the proposition for reading the w^hole 
prevailed, and the letter was dehberately read. 



46 



NARRATIVE AND 



And now the committee, instead of offering their 
extracts, and instead of going about to prove their 
assertions of falsehood, which they had said it con- 
tained, proposed, and as they said, in order to put 
an end to the controversy, to destroy the letter, with 
the copy retained by the w^riter. And at the same 
time stoutly affirmed, and repeated it again and 
again, that the letter w^as altogether inapplicable to 
wiiat they said to him at Greenwich, that he, the 
writer, had made his own premises and drawn his 
own conclusions, &c. Wherefore J. W. desired 
them to put a finger on one of his seven references 
to their charges at Greenwich, and to refute it. 
This he pressed them earnestly several times to 
do. But instead of doing it they boldly affirmed 
that they never made any charge against him there, 
that they only made some friendly enquiries of 
him, and thus evaded an examination of the pre- 
mises so distinctly grounded upon their own 
charge. They had, in this meeting, made both a 
formal and formidable complaint of something 
which he had said or done, and he now earnestly 
called upon them to show what it was, that thereby 
it might be seen what it was not, alleging that in 
the civil department, a man was never so much as 
brought to trial for defaming others, without pro- 
pounding the words charged upon him, and much 
less subjected, without proving them. 

But they now^ declined altogether an examination 
of those items in the letter which refers to their 
charges against him, which charges were the whole 
occasion and ground work of the letter. 

And again, inasmuch as they had inscribed upon 
the letter this condemnatory sentence, viz : that 
" the premises therein taken w^ere false, and conse- 
quently that the conclusions w^ere false and itn- 
sound^ which inscription had been read in this meet- 
ing ; and they had also declared at the same time, 
without reserve, that " the letter contained things 



EXPOSITION, 



47 



which were not true f he now called upon them to 
make good those high charges. 

So that, finally, after being thus closely pressed 
to do the thing which they at first professed to have 
come for, they referred to the passage relating to 
their " endeavors to put down those who honestly 
withstand J. J. Gurney's sentiments," and said, 
" those expressions which they understood to have 
been apphed to the committee, were untrue." 

J. W. now reminded them of what one of them, 
(R. G.) said to him whilst at Greenwich, viz : — - 
" Thou knew that the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
were not willing that thou should travel in the minis- 
try, and therefore thou ought not to have gone to 
Philadelphia," and subjoined, " and my advice to 
thee is to stay at home and be quiet." To which ad- 
vice every one of the committee then present, ex- 
cept A. N., responded. Knowing that these were 
their own words, they appeared to feel the weight 
of their defeat. 

It was observed by one of the members of South 
Kingston Select Meeting, and seen by every one 
present, that the truth of the passage referred to 
w^as sustained. To this observation they of the 
committee made no reply. And then again J. W, 
asked them for other objections, if any they had, 
tending to prove their charge, but without effect — 
they wholly declined challenging any other item 
in the whole letter, though once and again called 
on to do so. 

Hence the waiter of it is fully justified in assuming 
the ground that the letter contains no tangible evi- 
dence which goes to sustain their high charges. 

And inasmuch as the committee had pressingly 
proposed the burning of the letter, and had given the 
assurance that such measure would put an end to 
the whole controversy, one or two members of the 
meeting, seeing the utter failure of the committee, 
and, as it may be, feeling a little for them, and great- 



48 



NARRATION AND 



ly desiring the restoration of peace among us, pro- 
posed to John Wilbur that he consent to the con- 
suming of the papers that related to this unhappy- 
controversy ; being also unduly credulous as to the 
assurance given, that this measure would accom- 
plish its termination, — not seeing the consequences 
that would most likely follow it ; for should this 
letter become extinct, and therefore could no longer 
bear witness for itself, false charges might be 
brought against it, in which case the writer would 
be left in a very unpleasant predicament, on ac- 
count of the difficulty of proving a negative without 
a record. Moreover, another good reason why 
the letter ought not to be burnt is, because the 
charge of falsehood was written and remained upon 
it, and because the writer of it was now charged in 
a meeting of ministers and elders, with writing 
things therein that are untrue. Consequently, for 
him to consent to the destruction of the papers, un- 
til those slanderous charges are removed and re- 
tracted, it might, and not very unfairly, be constru- 
ed as an acknowledgment on the part of the writer 
that those accusations of falsehood wei'e correct. 
Hence he saw it much safer to preserve a correct 
copy of the letter, and resolved to do so. 

The great efforts and unhallowed means resorted 
to heretofore by the committee, to calumniate J. 
W., and to prevent his having an opportunity to 
vindicate his cause, induced him to suspect their 
integrity in a professed desire and assurance of a 
settlement through the destruction of this letter. 

And this suspicion has been since abundantly 
confirmed by the acknowledgment of other mem- 
bers of the Select Yearly Meeting's Committee. — 
The one who first cited J. W. before them, having 
said in a letter to a friend, " The burning of that 
letter would, I conceive, have done little if any 
thing at all, towards settling the difficulty." 

On parting, he called on T. A. to take from that 



EXPOSITION. 



49 



letter his charge of falsehood, which he had placed 
upon it, inasmuch as the writer had now been able 
to substantiate the truth of every line of it: to 
Vv'hich T. A. answered^ as being disposed to alter 
itj if that would produce a settlement. [If that would 
procure its destruction?] 

But the writer was soon after informed by a 
message from A, N. that the srxid T. A. said to him, 
that himself placed that endorsement on J. W.'s 
letter, therefore he had a right to take it off ; a/nd 
he would talie it off ; to which message J. W. made 
this reply, that time vroukl determine, whether that 
promise were fulfilled or not. 

At the close of this interview, J. W. asked T, A. 
for the extracts which they at first proposed to 
read in that meeting, but he declined giving them, 
but handed hinr a copy bf the letter vrith some pen- 
cil marks in the margin. 

At our Select Q.uarterly Jieeting at Providence, 
2nd month, 3d, 1841, the committee presented a 
report setting forth, as near as can be remembered, 
(for J. W. has been denied a copy) that " a mem- 
ber of this meeting having spread reports to the 
injury of the order of society, was labored with on 
tiiat account by your committee, whereupon the 
said member vrrote a letter to them contahiing 
things that Vv"ere itnjust,^^ &c. 

This report produced considerable expression, 
mingled vdtli censure and exhortation^ pointedly to 
the individual, with professions of sympathy for 
and travail with the committee. And it was con- 
cluded that the subject should remain with the same 
committee. It was perceived by J. W., that the 
committee at large, was resolved to disregard and 
overlook the proceedings of those two of their 
number at South Kingston, he rose, on behalf of 
the person alluded to in that report: requested that 
the meeting would either take up the subject itself 
and allow that individual a fair opportunity of 
3 , 



50 



NARRATIVE AND 



making his innocency appear, or otherwise instruct 
their committee to do so ; stating that some of their 
number had convened the select meeting, of which 
he was a member, and there openly in the meeting 
brought complaints against him of a more aggrava- 
ted nature than those stated in this report, but 
which complaints they were not able to sustain, 
and which failure he believed was obvious to every 
member of that meeting, that he had been suing 
for six months past for distinct objections to the 
course which he had taken ; and as he thought ob- 
tained a promise three months before to furnish him 
with those objections. But that promise had not yet 
been redeemed ; and referred to the trial of W. 
Penn and W. Mead, in London, to whom a full and 
fair hearing was promised, but which promise w^as 
not fulfilled. And the court seemed disposed to 
condemn them upon the reports abroad and the pre- 
judice against them. By which reference J. 
suggested whether the reports abroad tending to 
produce unfavorable feelings towards the person al- 
luded to in the report, had not influenced the minds 
of some of his friends against him. 

The committee now seemed to be brought to a 
stand what to say to this statement, but one or two 
of them did say that much opportunity had been al-» 
lowed him ; and referred to the time of one sitting, 
which they said continued for five hours in discus- 
sion of the case. But he reminded them, and in- 
formed the meeting, that his solicitation, through 
that meeting were the same as now^, to give him a 
plain statement, on paper, of their ground of unea- 
siness, and thus the subject was left. But before 
leaving Providence, J. W. asked T. A. (the one who 
furnished him with the copy of the letter,) whether 
those pencil marks on the margin were intended to 
designate their objections ? and to which he replied 
that " he did not know," 



EXPOSITION. 



51 



John Wilbur received from one of the same com- 
mittee a previous notice to meet them at Greenwich 
on the 4th of 5th month, 1841, the day before the 
Select Quarterly Meeting there. He went accord- 
ingly, and met with nine friends of the before-men- 
tioned committee, and six of the standing committee 
of the Yearly Meeting. And after a time of silence 
one of the former said, that inasmuch as J. W. had 
expressed a desire for an opportunity to make his 
defence, the committee had now met to give him 
that opportunity. 

He now waited some time for their complaint to 
be brought forward ; but not being presented, he 
mentioned that he had been w^aiting in expectation, 
that a complaint, if any they had against him, 
would be presented : and that nothing to that effect 
had been given-him — that although there were pen- 
cil marks on the copy of his letter handed him by 
T. A., yet T. A. said he did not Imow wdiether those 
pencil marks covered the committee's objections or 
not ; and that therefore he was not prepared to re- 
spond to their complaint, having received no other 
designation in writing of their uneasiness. But J. 
M. said that " John Wilbur, having received that 
marked copy from the hands of the committee, he 
might have known that it contained their objections.'' 
But as one of their own number had spoken doubtful- 
ly in relation to it, J. W. was not now^ prepared to 
meet those objections specifically. But the commit- 
tee decided on going into the consideration of the 
case at this time. Whereupon he requested that 
they would allow him the rightful privilege of one of 
two things, viz : that they w^ould either give him 
their objections in writing, and time to canvass them; 
or that they would constitute an individual of their 
number as their organ to speak on their behalf, inti- 
mating that for one individual to be laid under the 
necessity of replying to the objections and allega- 
tions of so many? might tend to an unreasonable em- 



62 



NARRATIVE AND 



barrassment — these requests were both denied. The 
Quarterly Meetmg's committee plead that he had 
been furnished as above, and that their objections 
were marked upon that copy, and that he might 
have known that it defined their objections, &c. 

It was now proposed, as he thinks, by the Yearly 
Meeting committee, that the letter should be read, 
and that the Quarterly Meeting's committee should 
discuss the objectionable passages as the reading 
went on. To this proposal J. W. objected, for the 
reason that the Yearly Meeting's committee, (who 
were presumed not to have seen it,) could not in 
that way so well comprehend it as a whole. And 
so the whole letter was read without any interrup- 
tion. And quite a solemnity prevailed throughout, 
and for some time after : inasmuch that it did al- 
most seem doubtful whether the Quarterly Meet- 
ing's committee would make any objections, nor did 
they do so until the Yearly Meeting's committee 
encouraged them to bring them forward, saying 
that it contained the insinuation that the Quarterly 
Meeting's committee were unsound, &c. Finally 
they attempted, but in so feeble a manner, and so 
indefinite, that the Yearly Meeting's committee 
proffered their help, (though brought here profess- 
edly to judge in a case of uneasiness between the 
Quarterly Meeting's committee and J. W.,) in point- 
ing out a paragraph or two which they said by a 
reasonable construction, appeared to them to bear 
upon the doctrinal views of the Quarterly Meeting's 
committee. 

But to this J. W. said, as he had heretofore said, 
that it was not his intention to charge the committee 
with unsoundness ; and if it would give the com- 
mittee any satisfaction he was still prepared so to 
say, [by way of explanation] and as they had asked 
the question, he would say, that he was as willing to 
say it in writing as verbally, as it could not then be 
misconstrued. 



EXPOSITION*. 



53 



These committees held three meetings at this time 
at Greenwich. And it was at the first that they 
gave occasion to J. W. to mention the substance of 
the intervievv of two of the Quarterly Meeting com- 
mittee with the ministers and elders at South Kings- 
ton, and he was astonished to hear them disclaim 
having any rememibrance of what he related ; and in 
the sequel they denied it ! although proveable by 
every member of that meeting. 

During this sitting W. J. accused J. W. of setting 
himself up against the Yearly Meetings of London 
and New England ; and said that J. J. Gurney's cer- 
tificate from London pronounced him to he sound in 
doctrine, and that his returning certificate from New 
England Yearly Meeting also said that he was 
sound in doctrine ; but on being disputed as to the 
latter, said it was to that amount. And as to the 
former, viz : whether his certificate of liberation 
pronounced him sound in doctrine, the clerk of the 
Yearly ivleeting, now present, was asked to inform 
the committee of the correctness of that assertion, 
who said he did not remember ! But there was one 
present, who did know that assertion to be without 
foundation ; and W. J. was informed of his error in - 
both cases. 

D. B. now said, (though uncalled for) " that he had 
never read any thing in J. J. Gurney's writings, 
which he considered unsound," (probably to redeem 
what he had at first said against them.) And at the 
close of the sitting, whilst many members were yet 
present, A. S., jr., said that he believed that j!^ J. 
Gurney's doctrines, when compared one with 
another, would very nearly, if not entirely, comport 
with the doctrines of our early friends. To which 
W. J. and one or two more responded, and no ob- 
jection to either of these affirmations was express- 
ed by any one of the committees then present.* 



* Here then, we find those committees voluntarily identifying 
themselves in the doctrines of J. J. Gurney. And J. W. thinks. 



54 



NARRATIVE AND 



After the close of this sitting, A. S., jr., put into 
the hands of J. W. a sheet of paper, folded in form 
of a letter, but not sealed, and offered it for his con- 
sideration. J. W. enquired who the author ^vas, but 
did not obtain the name. He then enquired if the 
document was to be his property ? The answer 
was. No, I expect to have it returned to me in the 
morning ; and by this time A. S. was retiring, and 
so J. W. just put the paper into his outer pocket, and 
returned it to the same person next day without un- 
folding it, or of seeing one word of its contents, and 
with it this information, that he had made up his 
mind to read no more anonymous letters, and es- 
pecially if not to be his property, and therefore had 
not unfolded it ; and desired to be excused. And 
then referred to such an one read to him at Newport 
by the committee, and further said, if any one has 
not enough of religious concern to venture iiis name, 
he may as well withhold his writing ; and moreover 
said to A. S., that he was willing to receive a letter 
from his hands at any time, and would pay due at- 
tention to it. 

On 4th day, morning, J. W. met again with 
the committee, and in a recurrence to the great 
question of doctrines, as treated of the preceding 
evening, he told them that his fears had not diminish- 
ed by reason of what passed yesterday ; that one of 
the Quarterly Meeting Committee had said that he 
had never read any thing in J. J. Gurney's writings 
which he thought unsound. And that one of the 
Yearly ^Meeting's Committees had also said, that he 
believed, if we were to compare one thing with 
another, that we should find J. J. Gurney's doctrines 
to be nearly, if not entirely conformable to the doc- 
trines of our early friends ; and that one or two more 



no possible construction can be placed, and made to hold upon any 
part of the letter in question, implicating them, or as implying that 
they had implicated themselves in any sentiments more unsound 
than those of J. J. G. 



EXPOSITION. 



55 



responded to that sentiment. But no reply to these 
remarks is recollected to have been made. Subse- 
quently, and after some conversation not recollected, 
R. G. spoke at considerable length, in commendation 
of J. J. Gmiiey, bestowing high encomiums and much 
praise upon him and his services in this country. 
Soon after, they asked J. W. if he were willing to 
commit to writing his expressions, that he had no in- 
tention of charging the com.mittee with unsound- 
ness ? to which he answered in the affirmative, in- 
asmauch as he had quite a choice that such explana- 
tion, if made at all, should be in writing ; and pro- 
posed, if A. S. had a pencil, that he should sketch it 
out, [meaning then w^hile we were sitting.] But, 
contrary to his expectation, the committee proposed 
to rise, and did so. After the sitting of the select 
Quarterly Meeting, he was requested to meet the 
committee ao;ain next mornino: at 9 o'clock. 

o ^ a 

On 5th day, morning, when assembled, A. S. 
read a paper, not only embracing the explanation 
agreed to, but a condemnation of expressions con- 
tained in his letter, and so shaped as J. W. thought 
that they could apply it to any part of the letter they 
might choose, and thereby, if they pleased, make him 
to retract the Vv^hole letter, and the v/hole ground 
which he had taken against the doctrines of J. J. 
Gurney, as well as his objection to the proceedings 
of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee ; hence, of 
course, he refused to sign it, but asked them to what 
expressions in the letter they alluded ? A. S., the 
v/riter of the paper, first referred to J. W.'s saying 
that D. B. " a,cknowledged that some of J. J. Gur- 
ney's writings Vv^ere very unsound," when D. B. 
arose and denied making such expressions. But J. 
W. now related the conversation that led to it, and 
mentioned J. M.'s expressions of dissatisfaction with 
it at the time, when he, J. M. repeated, to wit, " / 
should not have said so," and then called on Andrew 
Nichols (who had not arrived until this morning) to 
state his understanding of what D. B. said at the time 



56 



NARRATIVE AND 



alluded to. And he, although backward about tes- 
titying, gave it verbatim as the letter stated ; and 
immediately that subject was dropped. 

A. S. then referred to the passage in the letter 
which says, When you say that I have spoken 
against the doctrines of J. J. G., &c.," and said, " that 
the committee alleged that J. W. had attributed ex- 
pressions to them which they had not made use of," 
a matter in which it seems that the Quarterly Meet- 
ing Committee and J. W. are at issue. 

He now plainly stated to them, that at the first 
mterview, (and previously to his proposing to read 
extracts.) they clid^ and w^th some severity , " cen- 
sure him for spreading extracts from the doctrines 
of J. J. Gurney," but that on his producing those 
extracts, and proposing to read them, for their infor- 
mation, as to the extent of their unsoundness, there- 
by to evince the propriety of his showing those 
extracts ; then it was that they came round and 
said that the unsoundness of the doctrines of J. J. 
G. had nothing to do with (J. W.'s) defence. 

But even now, (continued he) suppose we were 
to waive this impassable ground, and mark the re- 
straints which the select Quarterly Meeting Com- 
mittee essayed to lay upon him at that time, and 
enquire for what cause ? Let the answer be in 
their owai language for his having spoken against 
J. J. Gurney. 

This was effectually, and to every intent and pur- 
pose, making him., so far as such could make him, 
ail offeiide?^, for spediking ^gSATiSt the doctrines of J. 
J. Gurney, and not otherwise, because it was his 
doctrinal characteristics only that were implied in 
these animadversions. 

And if the committee can separate the doctrines 
from the man, so he, as well, can separate the man 
from his doctrines. 

In the next place, A. S. spoke at some length in 
denunciation of the course which J. W. had taken, 
and much in the same strain as did the Quarterly 



EXPOSITION". 



57 



Meeting's Committee, in the first place at Green- 
wich, affirming it to have been a breach of order, 
&c. The speaker appeared to understand how to 
foreclose a reply, by immediately proposing an ad- 
jom'nment on taking his seat, viz : to meet again 
on first day evening, at the time of the Yearly 
Meeting at Newport, which was agreed to. 

At Newport, 1st day evening, the 13th of 6th 
month, 1841, the committee again met; J. W. 
being present, let them know that he had responded 
to, or rather vindicated the passages marked on 
their copy of his letter to the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee — and now desired to be furnished with 
their objections in writing in relation to the stand 
Vv^hich he had made against the writings of J. J. G. 

They nov/ denied having said at their last meet- 
ing, that the marked passages included the commit- 
tee's objections, and J. M., the very man who then 
said that " J. W. might have known that the mark- 
ed passages, coming from the committee, did in- 
clude their objections to the letter," nov/ said, that 
it was himself, unauthorized by the committee, w^ho 
marked those passages, and that they did not in- 
clude all the committee's objections to that letter, 
and to the last assertion, to wit, that they did not in- 
clude all their objections^ several others responded. 

Then, after remindmg them of the promise in the 
11th month, to furnish him with their objections, 
and of their assum.ption in the^^th month, that they 
had done so, as related to the letter, he called upon 
the committee, most seriously to furnish him with a 
plain account of their dissatisfaction with him on 
paper, in a manner w^hich could no more be chang- 
ed, averring that the allegations and complaints 
against him had been several times changed ! But 
they said he knew enough already of their dissatis-. 
faction, and utterly refused to give him a written 
recital of their uneasiness. 

Howbeit, he told them, that such was not only his 
3* 



58 



NARRATIVE AND 



right, but altogether reasonable, [they had once 
promised to give him their objections on paper, and 
essayed to do it ; and afterwards did not know as 
they had, and subsequently assured him that they 
had, and now ac^ain they assure him that they have 
not!!] 

Wherefore he now told them that if they persist- 
ed in a refusal, there would be no use in liis meet- 
ing them any more. 

Much, however, was said by this commit- 
tee,* (which now amounted to about thirty per- 
sons together, at this time,) and endeavors were 
not wanting to place him in a fearful and alarm- 
ing position. And they ultimately resorted in 
turn to persuasion, exhortation and denunciation, 
in order to obtain concessions from him. And 
at one time, repeatedly said, that it was but a 
little they would require of him to say. And at 
another time, proclaimed him to be in a dangerous 
position ; and again they told him, that he was in a 
dark, hard state of mind ! And after laboring in 
this way for some time, they concluded that a small- 
er number would be better, to labor in a more pri- 
vate way, and so appointed about half a dozen out 
of the number for the purpose, and adjourned till 3rd 
day, evening. This sub-committee requested him 
to meet them next morning at 7 o'clock, which he 
did. But during the recess, and on much delibera- 
tion, he became more and more confirmed in the 
belief, that he could not safely, in any manner what- 
ever, retract the course which he had taken. In 
which conclusion he had the unity as well as the 
sympathy of his friends. 

AVhen this sub-committee met, he told them that 
he had but very little to say, that his mind had been 



* The Select Quarterly Meeting's Committee had now, as they 
paid, resigned their authority to the Yearly Meeting's Committee, 
of which they were all members saye two, and by this manceuyre 
Andrew Nichols was excluded. 



EXPOSITION. 



59 



deliberately made up, that he could make no con- 
cessions, and therefore was disposed to withdraw ; 
that the committee could take such course as they 
thought proper. But they seemed very unwilling 
he should go out, and proposed that he read his de- 
fence to such objections as he had already received 
from the committee, but he said there would be no 
use in answering to a part of an indictment, before 
it was finished, or the whole brought into court, 
which they could not gainsay, but seemed inclined 
to administer more exhortation, and to show him 
the danger of his condition ; and so he staid until 
he supposed all had done. They were quite impor- 
tunate, however, that he would meet the full com- 
mittee the next evening, but he gave them no en- 
couragement of doing so, and did not meet them. 

At the close of the Yearly Meeting he was in- 
vited into the committee room, where he met with 
three or four of the committee, and where the ques- 
tion, whether he would take the advice of his 
friends, was urged by one of them, which was only 
answered by asking him, whether he was prepared 
to give advice ? Intimating that it would be time 
enough for them to ascertain that fact when their 
advice was given. 

Some allusion, he thinks, was made by them 
at this time, to the passage in his letter which 
stated that one of them had demurred to the doc- 
trines of J. J. Gurney, affirming, that although he 
had proved it by one witness, that they, the commit- 
tee, could disprove it by half a dozen w^itnesses. 
And to which J. W. replied, that a negative cannot 
be jjTovedj not even by any number of witnesses, 
when by one credible individual the thing had been 
proved by an affirmative. But one of them, S. 
T., jr., said that he was a greater lawyer than J. 
W., and that a negative can be proved, but did not 
tell how. [Howbeit, in this case, the negative 
could only be proved by an affirmative \\itness, 



60 



NAKRATIVE AXD 



testifvins: that D. B.. instead of beiiisr with the com- 
mittee at the time, ^vas at some other place.] 

These few now miportuned most earnestly that 
J. W. would make at least some little concession, 
and asked him if he would not say tliis, viz: "If I 
have done wrong, I am sorry for it." To which 
he replied, tliis is by no means a proper way [for a 
transgressor] to make satisfaction. They finally 
asked liim if he would not meet the whole commit- 
tee next -morning, and pressed him to do so, but he 
did not promise, telling them he should take the ad- 
vice of his friends. 

Sixth dav morninof. a2:reeable to the counsel of 
liis friends, he ao-ain met the Yearlv Meetinor's 
Committee, and was there again pressed to make 
them satisfaction by acknowledgment, and R. G. 
midertook to give a Iiistory of the case, but stated 
it in the most aggravated point of vievv, omitting 
the circumstances militating against the committee, 
and in favor of J. W. However, as the latter had 
before concluded to make no defence before the 
committee, until they had allowed him the just right 
of having a plain account, in writing, of all their 
charges against liim : he told them, that however 
unjust and aggravated that statement was, he should 
make no formal defence. Subsequently, liis letter 
to the committee was read, and when accomplished, 
reference was made by them to the denial therein 
contained, of the right or authority of that commit- 
tee to reprehend liim in the form and manner they 
had done. He now called for a copy of the minute 
of the appointment of the Select Quarterly Meet- 
ing's Committee, but it was not produced ; and then 
stated that he had applied to the clerk of the meet- 
ing which appointed them, for a copy of that minute, 
but he refused to give it. And so they were plead- 
ing for assumed powers while they refused to pro- 
duce evidence of having such powers. He then re- 
lated the purport of the minute of their appointment, 



EXPOSITION. 



61 



substantially as it was, which they had no right to 
gainsay, as the only evidence was in their hands, 
and that a matter of record, which only could be 
admitted to prove their authority. 

He stated to them a supposed case where defec- 
tive accounts should be sent from one of the Quar- 
ters to the Yearly Meeting, and a committee ap- 
pointed on that account, and asked whether such 
committee would have a right, under that appoint- 
ment, to go all over the Yearly Meeting in the exer- 
cise of the authority thus conferred upon it. To 
this they made no reply, and it was deemed by J. 
W. as conclusive against them. 

They now professed, and that, as he thought, most 
dishonorably, to have in their possession, other com- 
plaints against him, of which they had not yet told 
him. He then desired, that if they had other charges 
against him, they would be so good as to bring 
them forward, as well as those of which they pro- 
fessed that he had sufficient knowledge, so that he 
might have a plain hst of the whole. To which 
one of them replied, that they had many others ! 
[He supposed that they made this pretension to 
having more charges in store, for the purpose of 
alarming him, and to induce him to yield to their 
demands.] But no encouragement was given of 
letting him know what they were, nor yet of mak- 
ing tangible on paper any thing of the kind w^hat- 
ever. In answer to their frequent demands for 
concessions, he replied, now near the close, that 
there were many friends, and probably in all 
parts of the society, who were nearly united in 
making a stand against the unsound doctrines 
spread abroad among us, and that with them, and 
in the same cause, he had taken a pretty prominent 
part ; therefore, if he should now condemn his hav- 
ing withstood those doctrines, he would inflict a 
wound upon the good cause, and upon the feelings of 
his friends, as well as upon his own conscience. To 



62 



NARRATIVE A\D 



this one replied, that those alluded to in other parts 
of the society, were as likely to be mistaken as was 
John Wilbur. To which he saw fit to make no re- 
ply. This remark, however, was an assent that the 
question should rest upon the ground of doctrines. 

This committee, as it appears, were desirous that 
he should say something that they could call a con- 
demnation oferroj^s which he had committed, and then 
to liberate him by their pardon, and in that way to 
cast a stigma upon him, and on the cause which he 
had supported ; and which would go to strengthen 
the doctrines which he had reprobated. This he 
could no more agree to, than G. Fox and others 
could agree to be released from prison, under the 
sentence of a premunire, by ^pardon from the king, 
the acceptance of wliich would have implied a con- 
fession of guilt. George Fox therefore declared, 
that he would rather have lain in jail all his days, 
than to act in any way dishonorable to the truth, 
or as implying transgression on his part. 

Considerable more passed in the course of these 
discussions, that was not essential to the merits of 
the controversy, and is therefore omitted. 

At our Select Quarterly Meeting in the 11th 
month following, and in the forepart thereof, divers 
pointed declarations were thrown out, evidently 
aimed at J. W., which passed without remark ; but 
near the close of the business part of that meeting, 
one of its committee fell to censuring South Kings- 
ton select meeting, for sending up to that meeting, 
as representative, one who was under the care of 
a committee of that meeting. And now, although 
J. W. had let pass, without remark, those pointed 
declarations which were aimed at him, (behaving 
a right to do so) yet when the proceedings of that 
meeting from which he was there as a representa- 
tive, were condemned, he felt it his duty to come 
forward in vindication of its rights ; and he inform- 
ed the meeting that the friends of South Kingston 



EXPOSITION. 



63 



meeting believed that this Meeting's Committee, not 
being appointed for that purpose, had interfered 
with, and had invaded the rights which the Yearly 
Meeting had confided to it, and to all others within 
its limits, of that description, and that in a manner 
unauthorized by Discipline, and that this interfer- 
ence was therefore gratuitous. And further said, 
that superior meetings and their committees were 
bound to move through the regular and defined 
channels of the same discipline which was to govern 
those of an inferior order as well as individuals. 
To vv'hich no one responded, for the meeting im- 
mediately rose. 

One of the pointed communications above alluded 
to, was delivered by T. A., in which he referred to 
the passage, "When thou bring thy gift to the altar, 
and there find that thy brother hath ought against 
thee, leave there thy gift and go and first be recon- 
ciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy 
gift." This was evidently said with a design to 
make it appear that J. W. had no right to be exer- 
cised in the ministry until he had become reconcil- 
ed to the committee. A suggestion which came, as 
it vras thought, with no very good grace, from one 
of a committee, who had strenuously defended J. J. 
Gurney and his ministry, a man whose mission and 
ministerial service, in a proposed and extensive 
visit abroad, was objected, to by a number nearly 
equal to those who united with it, in his own select 
Yearly Meeting, and he desired to forbear going on 
the proposed service, until he were reconciled to 
his friends by a suspension of his lecturing, and a 
correction of his writings : an objection founded 
upon the palpable unsoundness of his views, and 
consequently it was of immense importance that 
those views should be retracted previous to his libe- 
ration for such a mission, and upon which the pas- 
sage before us has a most direct and strong bear- 
ing. 



64 



NARRATIVE AND 



And evidence is not wanting to prove, that the 
want of reconciUation between J. W. and the com- 
mittee originated in the fact, that he, (hke those 
who objected in J. J. Gurney's own Yearly Meet- 
ing.) was not satisfied with his traveUingas a minis- 
ter, until he retracted his offensive doctrines. 

Under existing circumstances, if sound ministers 
were bound to conform to the wishes .of the defend- 
ers of J. J. Gurney, by suspending their gospel ser- 
vices, it results in a concession of truth to error. Has 
therefore a conformity to their desires and injunc- 
tions, in the nature of things, any greater claim upon 
the true messengers than had the command to 
Amos the Prophet by Zedekiah, or to Peter and 
John by the Chief Priests and Pharisees ; or to our 
early Friends by their opposers ; however clothed 
all of these were with constituted authority ? 

When order, law or discipline, however good in 
their primitive institution, whilst in the hands of 
good men, are perverted and turned into instru- 
ments of oppression, and made to suppress the gift 
of God, in bearing testimony to the truth ; the con- 
sideration becomes of serious and deep import. 

Was it wrong for Amos to disregard the authori- 
ty of the king's court ? Was it wrong for Peter and 
John to forego the constituted authority of the Jew- 
ish church, w^hen by that a,uthority they Vv^ere for- 
bidden to preach Christ ? Was it wrong for our 
early friends to disobey the injunction of the eccle- 
siastical and civil authorities of their day, in 
preaching the true gospel of Christ ? No, — because 
the authorities under which they acted, were per- 
verted and made the engine of an unhallowed pur- 
pose — Avere exercised for the purpose of restraining 
religious duty. 

In the cases alluded to, the very intention of re- 
straining the right, was to make way for the estab- 
lishment and perpetuation of the wrong ! 



EXPOSITION. 



65 



But the intentions of God, in moving his servants 
to preach the truth, was the reverse of theirs^ — was 
for the purpose of exposing and eradicating the 
wrong, and estabhshing the right. It was so, as we 
have seen, both under the Jewish and Christian 
dispensations, — that the reformers under the latter, 
w^hether earher or later, though marked as offend- 
ers, could not hold their peace- — though forbidden 
by those in authority, could not flinch from their 
religious duty, from testifying against the evil, or 
for the advancement of that which was good. 

Under the best of church government that has 
ever been instituted, when it is abused, and a party 
of unsound leaders have grasped the reins oJf that 
government, and in violation of its discipline, at- 
tempt to silence the honest supporters of it, as well 
as its doctrines, shall these, or ought these to hold 
their peace when their faithful labors, under the 
guidajice of best Wisdom, are the means appointed 
for sustaining her doctrines, discipline and testimo- 
nies ? But it is no m.arvel that a party, designing an 
innovation upon the doctrines of a religious society, 
should be disposed to silence and to put down all 
who make a stand against them. 

Another of the committee, (J. M.,) made an effort 
in that meeting to put J. W. in the place of the old 
prophet who deceived and misled the prophet of the 
Lord — he that was sent to declare against Jero- 
boam's idolatry and his altar at Bethel. 

But J. M. found some difficulty in making his 
parable to bear on any one point of that scripture 
account. Whereas, if J. J. G. and his apostacy 
from the doctrines and testimonies of our Israel, 
were compared to Jeroboam and his departure, 
and those who feel themaselves bound to testify 
against him and his views with the prophet of the 
Lord, the parable would bear on most, if not on 
every point. 



66 



NARRATIVE AND 



And again, if those who have resorted to so 
many unhallowed efforts to turn the conscientious 
aside from truth's direction, were compared to the 
old man, who professed to be a prophet, and who 
probably had been a true prophet, the comparison 
would apply in a most striking manner in almost 
every point. Jeroboam had in many respects de- 
parted from the doctrines and testimonies of the 
Lord's people, and so has J. J. G. A servant of 
the Lord testified against Jeroboam and his altar, 
and so J. W. and many others have testified against 
J. J. G. and his altar. 

The Lord commanded his servant formally not 
to turn aside from his direction to eat or drink in 
that place, — that is, not with Jeroboam, nor with 
his priests nor prophets. And so the Lord has in- 
structed these m the same sense not to turn aside 
from his purpose by a compromise, likened to eat- 
ing or drinking with the prophets of J. J. Gurney. 
And it is very likely, that if J. W. had been pre- 
vailed upon to turn aside from the course prescribed, 
that the devourer would have had power over him. 
And there is much reason to fear, that many are in 
danger of losing the precious life, by being prevail- 
ed upon to abandon the word of the Lord, and to 
believe that J. J. G., and those who advocate him, 
are the prophets of the Lord, and to listen to their 
testimony. 

On the 13th of 1st month, 1842, two of the com- 
mittee, as noticed in the complaint, did come to the 
house of J. W., under the profession, as repeatedly 
avowed by one of them, that they came upon their 
own individual concern, but it afterwards appeared 
by information from another of the committee, that 
they came by direction and as a deputation from the 
committee. Their object and labor apparently was, 
to obtain from him a condemnation of the course he 
had taken as before pressed by the committee. 



EXPOSITION. 



67 



But it is due to them to say, that they did allow 
him pretty fully to vindicate his cause ; which was 
done- in a manner that they were not prepared to 
gainsay ; but one of them, though unable to point 
out error in his proceedings, said, " that as the com- 
mittee called for something from him, his confidence 
was such in the committee, it was his opinion that 
something was due from J. W. to them." 

During the interview, J. W. asked them if they 
believed J. J. Gurney to be a sound Friend ? and 
was answered, by one of them, unhesitatingly, in the 
affirmative. 

In the 4th month, 1842, fifteen in number of the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee attended South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting, and brought a voluminous 
complaint against him, without any previous notice, 
and literally made good their assertions eight or ten 
months before, viz: that they had many things 
against him, of which they had not yet told him. 
So they did indeed, couch divers charges in this 
complaint which they had never before brought 
against him as such. 

This attempt by force of numbers, as it appeared, 
to compel the Monthly Meeting to take immediate 
measures, contrary to the usual course of business, 
by overseers, and through a preparative meeting, 
produced a want of confidence, both in the Monthly 
Meeting and in the preparative meeting and over- 
seers: and raised the question in many minds, 
What can be the merits of a complaint which they 
dare not venture with the overseers and preparative 
meeting, nor even with the Monthly Meeting, with- 
out so great a number to enforce it ? Not that the 
Monthly Meeting was unwilling to recognize it, 
through the usual channel prescribed by discipline 
and the order of society. Nor was J. W. unwilling 
that this case should be submitted to South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting for decision in a regular 
manner according to discipline. 



68 NARRATIVE AND 

The following account of proceedings relative to 
the case is compiled from minutes thereof kept by- 
members of South Kingston Monthly Meeting. 

In the 4th month, 1842, a large number of the Yearly 
Meeting's Co?n?nittee, attended South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, and brought a coinplaint in 
Hinting against John Wilbur, a member of that 
meeting ; which is as follows : 

To South Kingston Monthly Meeting of Friends : 

"We, the Committee appointed by the Yearly Meet- 
ing to extend a general care on its behalf, for the 
maintenance of our Christian principles and testimo- 
nies, and the presentation of love and unity among our 
members ; and in the ability that may be afforded us 
to assist and advise such meetings and members, 
as circumstances may require, and w^ay open for, 
under the direction of best Wisdom ; having had our 
minds introduced into deep concern and exercise on 
account of the course pursued for some time past, by 
John Wilbur, a member of South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, in the station of a minister ; believe the time 
has now come, for us to state some of the particulars, 
wherein he has departed from the good order of our 
religious society, in the disregard of our Christian dis- 
cipline. 

He has cu'culated an anonymous pamphlet, which 
impeaches the character of our Society, and in which, 
some of its important doctrines, as exemplified in the 
religious engagements of some of its faithful ministers, 
are reproachfully held up to view ; and purports to 
contain the proceedings of London Yearly Meeting of 
Ministers and Elders, with the sentiments of divers 
Friends therein named, when the subject of liberating 
a minister to visit this country was before that meeting. 
The object of which together with sundry letters which 
he has circulated, appears to be to induce the belief 
that the concern did not receive the unity of the meet- 
ing, and that the clerk did not act in conformity with 



EXPOSITION. 



69 



the true sense and judgment of the meeting in signing 
the certificate, thus endeavoiing to invalidate both the 
proceedings and conclusion of a meeting, in unity with 
this Yearly Meeting, and whose certificate on behalf 
of the same friend was received and united with, as 
entered on our records. And while the friend was in 
this country, and engaged in the discharge of his 
apprehended religious duty, with full certificates of 
unity from the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings of 
which he is a member, and the Yearly Meeting of 
Ministers and Elders of London, and which were duly 
presented, received, and accredited, in all the Yearly 
Meetings in this country except one, which he did not 
attend. And thus was he at liberty for religious ser- 
vice within their limits in the full and acknowledofed 
character of an approved and authenticated minister 
of the society of Friends ; — John Wilbur, for the want, 
as we believe, of an humble abiding in the truth, has 
circulated divers letters, one or more of which appear 
to have been written in England, and others origina- 
ting with himself, addressed to different Friends in 
this country, which were intended to show that the 
minister thus liberated to religious service was not in 
unity with his friends at home, contrary to the long 
established order of our religious society, and designed, 
to close his way in the minds of Friends. And we 
also believe, that for the want of maintaining his in- 
tegrity in that dependence upon the Holy Spirit, which 
would have preserved him in unity with Friends, he 
has indulged in a spirit of detraction, in speaking and 
writing, by which the religious character of divers 
Friends in our own and other Yearly Meetings has 
been much misrepresented. 

Many friends were introduced into deep concern on 
his account, and several of them treated with him in 
tenderness and love in relation to it, but without pro- 
ducing any apparent change in his mind, and there 
having been a committee appointed by Rhode Island 
Quarterly Meeting of Ministers and Elders, in the fifth 
month, 1840, of which body he was a member, on ac- 



70 



NARRATIVE AND 



count of existing deficiencies as manifest from the 
answers to the queries, and under a concern for the 
cause of truth ; and ihey having been made acquainted 
"vvith John Wilbui's course as last above stated, and he 
having made divers assertions tending to induce dissat- 
isfaction among Friends, and with the proceedings of 
our Yearly Meeting in various particulars, and calcu- 
lated to produce division therein, and also to disturb 
the unity of different Yearly Meetings, and to alienate 
the feelings of their members from each other, sought 
an opportunity with him, in which they endeavored to 
show him the effects of his proceedings both upon him- 
self and others ; but he so far from receiving these 
labors of love in the spirit in which they were admin- 
istered, soon after wrote a letter to one of the com- 
mittee, in which he made unjust insinuations, and pre- 
ferred charges against them which they deny in point 
of fact. 

They, nevertheless, continued their care and labor, 
but his mind appearing closed against their advice in 
the oih month, 1841; we, at their request, believed 
it to be our duty to extend care in his case ; and it is 
with deep regret and sorrow we have obsen'ed the 
effect his course of conduct has produced, in lessening 
that regard for the w^holesome restraints of the disci- 
pline, and for the labor of faithful Friends, for the 
preservation of that good order, love, and unity, 
which are essential to the peace and welfare of the 
body. 

AVe have had repeated opportunities with him in 
which we have labored to convince him of his errors, 
but this desirable object not having been accomplish- 
ed, and after waiting several months to afford him op- 
portunity to make satisfaction for his deviation, and 
two of the committee having unavailingly visited him 
on this account at his own house, and there not appear- 
ing that change in his mind, wliich is necessary to his 
being restored to the unity of Friends, we now believe 
it incumbent upon us in discharge of the service con- 
fided to us by the Yearly Meeting, to recommend his 



EXPOSITION. 



71 



case to the immediate notice md care of South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting. 

Frovidence, 4.ih Mo. 23, 1842. 
(Signed,) 

Rowland Greene, Allen AY ing, 

John Osborne, Perez Peck, 

Caleb Nichols, David Buffum, 

Daniel Taber, John Meader, 

Edward Wing, William Jenkins, 

Thomas Anthony, Mary Wing, 

Elizabeth Meader, Olive Wing, 

Mary B. Allen. 

After the reading of the complaint, the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee proposed that the meeting 
should take action upon it, by appointing a commit- 
tee on the case at that time. 

The Friend complained of, and others, took the 
ground that the complaint^ should come to the 
Monthly Meeting through the overseers and Pre- 
parative Meeting — agreeably to our uniform prac- 
tice, — but the committee said, their authority from 
the Yearly Meeting was such as to obviate the ne- 
cessity of such preliminary proceedings — and when 
it was proposed that the case should be referred for 
a month on the ground that the Monthly Meeting 
w^as hardly in a situation to act in so important a 
matter on account of the small numbei^ present,* 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee insisted upon im- 
mediate proceedings — saying an addition could be 
made at a future time to the committee now ap- 
pointed, if the meeting desired it ; and threatened, 
if the Monthly Meeting did not comply with their 
advice, to carry a complaint against it to the Quar- 
terly Meeting. 



* The meeting was at this time held at the most remote placQ 
from the greater number of Friends — and the day was wet, and 
consequently a smaller number than usual were present. 



72 



NARRATIVE AND 



After an expression by the meeting, in which the 
greater number objected to the proposed immediate 
action : the clerk proposed to refer the decision of 
the question to the Yearly Meeting's Committee, 
who had been urging it upon the meeting. 

They recommended the clerk to decide ; which 
he then did in favor of their views. 

The members of South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting generally knew very little of the merits of 
this case before it was brought to them by the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee ; but the unusual so- 
licitude and determination manifested by that com- 
mittee in regard to it, and their apparent control 
over the clerk, induced many to believe that if a 
fair and impartial investigation of the case was had, 
it was important to have an independent and im- 
partial clerk appointed, and accordingly, at the 
Monthly Meeting in the 5th' month, the time for 
which the clerk was appointed having expired, a 
new clerk w^as chosen, having the unity of more 
than three-fourths of those w4io expressed them- 
selves ; and those who opposed the appointment 
did it on the ground of postponing the action of the 
meeting, and not from any expressed objection to 
the person appointed. The former clerk having 
left the table, the one newly appointed w^as request- 
ed to take his seat, but before doing so, he proposed 
for the former clerk to make a minute of the ap- 
pointment, but the former clerk said it was not cus- 
tomary. The new clerk then w^ent to the table, 
and the business of the meeting proceeded ; the 
former clerk and those who had advocated the 
postponement of the appointment of the clerk, par- 
ticipated therein. At this time one of the commit- 
tee in the case of J. Wilbur proposed that an addi- 
tion be made to that committee, the case being, as 
he said, a very important one, and the meeting, 
when they were appointed, small. An addition of 
five Friends was then made to the committee. 



EXPOSITION. 



73 



At the Monthly Meeting in the 6th month, several 
of the Yearly Meeting's Committee attended, and 
proposed that the new clerk should resign, and that 
the meeting should re-appoint the former one : giv- 
ing it as their opinion that this course would tend to 
restore unity and harmony in the meeting, which 
they professed to be the object of their visit. The 
committee said, their reason for this advice was, 
that they had heard that the appointment of the 
clerk was made in a disorderly manner, and lhat it 
was planned out of meeting ; b ut they were unable 
to sustain these charges when called upon to do so. 
A large part of the meeting expressed their satisfac- 
tion with the appointment of the new clerk— making 
it evident that the change proposed would not tend 
to unite the meeting ; and the subject was passed 
from without making the change. 

A committee being appointed at this time to 
transfer the books and papers of the Monthly Meet- 
ing from the former to the present clerk, the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee stated, that they had advised 
the former clerk to retain them ; and gave as a 
reason, that they had cause to apprehend that a 
separation was contemplated by South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting. This was disclaimed by the 
Monthly Meeting, and no evidence of it was ad- 
duced by the committee. 

In the 7th month the committee in the case of 
John Wilbur met for the investigation of that case, 
and six of the Yearly Meeting's Committee attended. 
Before the examination of the case was commenc- 
ed, J. W. desired to have one or two of his friends 
to sit w^ith him and assist him ; and after some dis- 
cussion, in which the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
made objection to his having this privilege — the re- 
spective parties withdrew, submitting the matter to 
the Monthly Meeting's Committee, who unanimous- 
ly decided to allow J. W. the assistance of two of 
his friends. Upon their return, the Yearly Meeting's 
4 



74 



NARRATIVE AND 



Committee still objected, and again retired a short 
time for consultation among themselves. On again 
coming in, they took decided ground that the decis- 
ion of the Monthly Meeting's Committee must be 
reversed or they should not proceed with the open- 
ing of the case, but should leave. The Monthly 
Meeting's Committee, on being again appealed to, 
declined to take from J. W. the privilege they had 
granted, without he should consent thereto. J. W. 
subsequently did consent to proceed without the 
help of his friends, as from the determination of the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee, no other way appear- 
ed to go forward with the case, with said commit- 
tee present, wliich was to him desirable. During 
the discussion of this question of allow^ing him as- 
sistance, which occupied the whole of the first day, 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee claimed that it 
w^as their province, after representing the case on 
their part, to join the Monthly Meeting's Committee 
in judging the same ; a position w^hich the Monthly 
Meeting's Committee were not ready to allow. The 
Yearly Meeting's Committee also during the same 
discussion, denied that they were complainants in 
this case — and when, the next morning, they were 
asked by J. W. whether they still persisted in this 
denial, notwithstanding their names were attached 
to the complaint ; they made no reply. In the early 
part of the trial, the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
introduced the pamphlet alluded to in the complaint, 
and which, J. W. was therein charged with circulat- 
ing. He requested the pamphlet might be read, but 
this the Yearly Meeting's Committee opposed, pro- 
posing to read only certain extracts which they had 
selected from it ; and said if it was read at length, 
they should leave ; they opposed it strongly, saying 
it would make them accessory to the further circu- 
lation of an improper book, and responsible for it, 
if read before the Monthly Meeting's Committee, but 
subsequently said they were willing the committee 



EXPOSITION. 



75 



should have the pamphlet for examination ! The 
Monthly Meeting's Committee, however, decided to 
have it read, and it was read accordingly. The evi- 
dence of the Yearly Meeting's Committee in support 
of charges in the complaint being gone through with, 
J. W. proposed in his defence to go into the exami- 
nation of certain fundamental doctrines of the So- 
ciety as held by the early Friends, and also of cer- 
tain other doctrines promulgated by Joseph John 
Gurney, as those of the Society, because it was on 
account of his objection to the latter, that he was 
complained of This was objected to by the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee. 

In support of his right to do so, J. W. refered to 
the Discipline, p. 74, which is as follows : 

" The importance of steadfastly maintaining our 
ancient principles, respecting the doctrines of the Gos- 
pel, coming renewedly under our consideration, we 
earnestly recommend and enjoin upon Quarterly and 
Monthly Meetings, and upon all faithful Friends, to be 
watchful over our members, as it regards the profes- 
sion of their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, both as to 
his outward coming in the flesh, wherein he tasted 
death for every man, and was the propitiatory sacrifice 
for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins 
of the whole world, suffering the just for the unjust, 
that we might be brought unto God through Him ; — 
and to his spiritual appearance in the heart, for, unto 
them that look for him, shall he appear the second 
time, without sin, unto salvation." And if in any 
instance there should be manifested any deviation from 
our Christian principles in these respects, that they 
proceed to labor with such in the spirit of meekness 
and wisdom, endeavoring to bring them to a sense 
of their departure from our acknowledged princi- 
ples, that if possible they may be restored to sound- 
ness of faith. And if there should be any who should 
persist in their errors, notwithstanding such labor in 
brotherly love, that our testimony be maintained by 
testifying against such." 



70 



NARRATIVE AND 



The Yearly Meeting's Committee took the 
ground that the Monthly Meeting's Committee had 
no right to set themselves up as judges of doctrine, 
and that only two bodies are in any case authorized 
to judge of doctrines, to wit, the Yearly Meeting 
and the Meeting for Sufferings ; that if they enter- 
ed into doctrines they w^ould assume authority to de- 
cide that the great body of the Yearly Meeting are 
unsound, taking into view the great unanimity of it, 
in granting Joseph Jolin Gurney a returning certifi- 
cate. 

The Yearly Meeting's Committee asked a decision 
of this question, and after taking time for delibera- 
tion the committee of the Monthly Meeting gave 
the following written decision : 

Inasmuch as the complaint against John Wilbur, 
charges him with circulating an anonymous pamphlet, 
in which some of the important doctrines of our religious 
society are reproachfully held up to view ; and inas- 
much as the merits of that matter have been fully gone 
into, on the part of the Yeaily Meeting's Committee : 
and further, as it appears to us, that the merits of this 
essentially depends upon the doctrines which have 
been called in question by John Wilbur ; we have 
concluded to allow him to proceed with his defence, 
introducing such evidence and documents on these 
subjects, as shall appear essentially to relate to the 
Bame." 

And, subsequently, the committee gave the fol- 
lowing reasons for their decisions, namely : 

That they came to this conclusion on the ground 
that John Wilbur had been charged with circulating 
information, both in writing and print, calculated and 
intended to close the way of a Friend, from England, 
travelling among us as an approved and accredited 
minister, — as well as certain other offences against the 
discipline and order of society ; — and he pleads in de- 



EXPOSITION. 



77 



fence, that what he has done has been in the faithful 
discharge of his apprehended religious duty, in guard 
ing the Society against the introduction of unsound 
and pernicious doctrines, subversive of Quakerism, 
which doctrines he maintained were held and promul- 
gated by the individual alluded to. Now, since our 
Christian discipline enjoins upon all faithful friends to 
be watchful against such doctrines, and. to testify 
asfainst them ] it appears to us, that no less could be 
done, than to allow the person so charged, to show, if 
he can, that he has been acting in conformity with 
the Discipline in such cases. 

In answer to the assumption of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, that we have no right to judge of doctrines ; 
and that the only bodies authorized to do so, are the 
Yearly Meeting, and the ^Meeting for Sufferings ; we 
would observe, that Monthly Meetings and Commit- 
tees appointed by them, are required to judge of doc- 
ti*ines in many cases ; as on receiving members, whether 
they embrace our principles, and sometimes in disown- 
ing members for an abandonment of them. And it 
will be seen that the discipline above alluded to, would 
involve an absurdity if this was not the case, for therein 
all faithful friends are enjoined to be watchful against 
the manifestation of unsound doctrines among our 
members. 

We acknowledge, that the Yearly Meeting has very 
properly constituted its Meeting for Sufferings, the 
body to judge of the soundness of doctrines proposed 
to be published as those of the Society ; and whose 
especial duty it is to guard against every inroad of 
en'or among us ; — but this does not, and cannot debar 
subordinate meetings and their members, from the right 
and duty of judging for themselves in so vital a matter 
as the doctrines they embrace ; and bearing their tes- 
timony against manifest unsoundness, in whomsoever it 
may appear. And, so far as our meetings and mem- 
bers are guided by the Spirit of Truth, which leads 
into all truth, so far there will be an unity of sentiment 
among them, and all, as we believe, in full accordance 
with those doctrines and principles so clearly and fully 



78 



N.UIRATIVE AND 



testified of, in the early days of the Society by George 
Fox, and the primitive Friends.'' 

The Yearly Meeting's Committee being informed 
of the decision of the committee of the Monthly 
iNIeeting on this question, immediately withdrew, 
taking with them all the papers and documents 
which they had introduced to sustain their charges. 
The Monthly Meeting's Committee continued their 
sittings to the conclusion of the investigation. 

At the monthly meeting in the seventh month a 
number of the Yearly Meeting's Committee attend- 
ed. The committee appointed to transfer the books 
and papers, reported that they were unabled to ob- 
tain them; the former clerk refusing to give them 
up ; alleging as a reason, that the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee advised him to retain them. It was pro- 
posed to take him under dealing for the offence, and 
the meeting took the case into consideration, deny- 
ing the right of the committee to interfere with the 
records. The Yearly Meeting's Committee object- 
ed to his being taken under dealing, but expressed 
their satisfaction with the continuance of the same 
committee for the same purpose as before, and were 
wilUng, if Friends thought best, that one or two 
name's be added ! 

(A member of Greenwich Monthly Meeting hav- 
ing a few words to say, not referring to the merits 
of the case, one of the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
denied his right to speak, because he was not a 
member of South Kingston Monthly Meetmg, 
thus interfering with that rehgious freedom of ex- 
pression which has always characterized Friends ; 
and this, notwithstanding a member of another 
Monthly Meeting who accompanied them, spoke 
freely and without any interruption, in condemna- 
tion of South Kingston Monthly Meeting.) 

The committee again said, that from what they 
had seen and heard, they were induced to believe 



EXPOSITION. 



79 



that a separation was contemplated on the part of 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting, in which event 
they said it w^as very niiportant that the Society should 
have its records, and gave this as a reason for ad- 
vising the former clerk to retain them. Regret 
was expressed by the meeting that the committee 
should again allude to that subject, and they were 
reminded of the great inconsistency and improprie- 
ty of such a course ; professing to be laboring to 
restore unity and at the same time talking about a 
separation. 

The committee in the case of John Wilbur, stated 
that they were not prepared to report at present. 
One of the Yearly Meeting's Committee made in- 
quiry w^hether no part of the committee were rea- 
dy ; upon which one of the committee stated, that 
two or them had a report in readiness. 

The Yearly Meeting's Committee advocated the 
reading of this report of two out of a committee of 
nine, but the meeting decided against it. 

The seven members of the committee who did 
not sign this report had never had an opportunity 
to see it, this introduction of it to the meeting being 
their first knowledge of it. 

Near the close of this meeting, that member of 
the Committee who said two of them had a report 
in readiness, proposed that those in unity with the 
Yearly Meeting, and the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee and their doings, be requested to stop in the 
house a short time, at the close of the meeting. 
With this, the former clerk united, and wished the 
same request made to the women. The Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, encouraged and approbated 
this proposal, but the meeting generally objected to 
it, on the ground that it appeared to be a scheme for 
a separation, which it was hoped would not receive 
any encouragement, and objected to this test of 
unity with them, as an improper one, fully express- 
ing unity with the doctrines of the Society, as held 



80 



NARRATIVE AND 



by the early Friends, choosing rather to commit 
themselves to principles than to men. The Yearly 
Meeting's Committee made no charge of unsound- 
ness against any ; but one of them said that a man 
might be entirely sound in doctrine, and yet be very 
far from being in unity with the Yearly Meeting. 
The judgment of the meeting w^as fully acquiesced 
in, by him who made the proposition, upon a sug- 
gestion of a member of the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, and the subject was passed from. 

This was the condition of things relative to South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting at the time of the Quar- 
terly Meeting in the eighth month, when the Yearly 
Meetings's Committee reported it in a state of disuni- 
ty, disorder and insubordination ; and a Quarterly 
Meeting's Committee was appointed to unite with 
them in visiting that Monthly Meeting, while the 
case of John Wilbur, about w^hich the Yearly Meet- 
ing's Committee had manifested such extreme anxi- 
ty, was still in the hands of the committee of the 
Monthly Meeting, who had not yet reported. 

At the Monthly Meeting in the eighth month, 
several of the Yearly Meeting's Committee, and all 
the committee of the men's Quarterly Meeting at- 
tended, and claimed that the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee were incorporated with the meeting, 
having a right to act as members, and to advise and 
assist the Monthly Meeting, and that the meeting 
was bound to act according to their advice, even to 
the abrogation of its recorded acts for months past. 

The Monthly Meeting did not allow this claim ; it 
expressed its willingness to hear and consider what- 
ever advice the committee might offer, and give it 
all proper weight, but claimed the right to exercise 
its own final judgment as to adopting it ; acknow- 
ledging itself responsible to the Quarterly and Year- 
ly Meetings in the manner and form prescribed by 
the Discipline, for any breach of the discipline and 
order of Society. 



EXPOSITION. 



81 



Seven of the committee in the case of J. W. made 
the following report. 

" To South Kingston Monthly Meeting of Friends, 
to be held at Hopkinton, the 22d of 8th Mo», 1842. 

The committee appointed by South Kingston Month- 
ly Meeting, to treat with John Wilbur, on account of 
the complaint brought against him by the Yearly Meet- 
ing's Committee, have attended to that service ; having 
given notice to the parties of the time and place of 
our meeting John Wilbur, and several of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee attended, and were heard upon 
the several matters contained in said complaint. 

Upon a full and deliberate investigation of the case, 
our judgment is that the charges against John Wilbur, 
have not been sustained ; but that his defence is suffi- 
cient to exonerate him from the same : — it appearing 
from the evidence brought before us, that the complaint 
originated on account of John Wilbur's labors under 
an apprehension of his religious duty, and in conform- 
ity with our Christian discipline, against the introduc- 
tion into our Society of defective principles and doc- 
trines, and for the preservation of those ancient testi- 
monies of Truth, committed to us as a people. We, 
therefore recommend that the complaint against him 
be dismissed. 

Hopkinton^ 8th Mo., 1842. 

Othniel Foster, 
William Nichols, 
John Foster, 
Isaac Collixs, 
Joshua Gardner, Jr. 
Samuel Sheffield, 
Charles Perry." 

Two of the committee made a counter report. 

The consideration of the first was then entered upon 

by the meeting, and the Quarterly Meeting's Com- 

iTfiittee advised against its adoption. 

One of the Yearly Meeting's Committee called for 
4# 



82 



NARRATIVE AND 



an explanation of the causes which led that commit- 
tee to leave, before the investicration of the case of J. 
W. "vvas concluded. The clerk of the Monthly 
Meeting's Committee then read an extract from the 
committee's mmutes, giving their reasons for allow- 
ing him to go into an investigation of doctrines in his 
defence. These i^easons were not attempted to he 
controverted or answered. The meeting gave a very 
fall expression in favor of receiving the report of the 
committee, four-fifths of the number of those who 
spoke in relation to it, supporting it. and at its final 
adoption only one member of the Monthly Meeting 
spoke decidedly against it. The meeting deliberat- 
ed long upon the subject, hearing all the committees 
had to say, and when all discussions had ceased, 
and the meeting had remained some time in silence, 
the clerk made a minute accepting the report, and it 
was sent to the women's meeting for their conside- 
ration. The Quarterly Meeting's Committee united 
with the Yearly Meeting's Committee in advising 
the former clerk to retain the records of the Monthly 
Meeting. 

Before the report was returned by the women, 
an attempt was made by two of the Yearly Meet- 
ing's Committee, sitting at the head of the meeting, 
to break it up, but it was not successful, and the re- 
port teas united with by the women's meeting. 

At the Monthly Meeting in the ninth month a 
committee was appomted to labor with T. C. C, 
the former clerk, on account of his withholding from 
the Monthly Meetmgits records, and the committee 
had an opportunity with him on that account : after 
the opportunity was ended, he informed one of the 
committee that he had delivered our records over to 
the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, who had given 
him a receipt for them, and taken them away out of 
the limits of our Monthly Meeting! Thus, by this 
bold depredation upon our property, effectually de- 



EXPOSITION. 



83 



priving our members of the right secured to them by 
the DiscipHne, of having access to our records. 

At the Monthly JMeetins: in the 10th month, four 
of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee attended 
and presented the following written advice to the 
Monthly i\leeting. 

The committee appointed by the Quarterly Meet- 
ing to visit South Kingston Monthly Meeting, and for 
other services, as will appear by the minute of the 
Quarterly Meeting herewith presented, now believe it 
right to state to South Kingston Monthly Meeting, that 
having taken into our deliberate consideration, the pro- 
ceedings of that meeting in the Sth month last ; and 
other previous proceedings connected with it ; which 
have had the effect to produce the present unhappy 
differences existing in that meeting, and the state of 
insubordination in which it now is, — have come to the 
conclusion that the placing of Samuel Sheffield, at the 
table, to act as Clerk in the oth month last, in the irreg- 
ular and disorderly manner in which it was effected, 
and by which procedure the feelings and views of many 
of the members w^ere wholly disregarded ; and being 
satisfied that he took his seat at the table, and made 
the minute appointing himself out of the usual and 
long established order of said m.eeting in appointing 
their Clerk. We did therefore unite with the advice 
previously given to Timothy C. Collins, by the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, that he^should continue for the 
present to retain the Records of that Meeting. 

And as this committee were also fully united in the 
advice given in the Sth month last to South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, not to accept the report presented by 
that portion of the committee, five of whom were added 
(contrary to the general usage of our Society,) to the 
committee appointed in the 4th month, to have charge 
of the case ; after Samuel Sheffield took his seat at the 
table in the oth month ; and as we have cause to ap- 
prehend from the manner in which they were selected, 
and from their relationship to the individual under 



84 



NAERATIVE AND 



care, it was with a view to prevent an impartial exer- 
cise of our Christian discipline. 

We, therefore, now on behalf of the Quarterly Meet- 
ing, advise South Kingston Monthly Meeting at this 
time, to remove Samuel Sheffield from acting as Clerk, 
and to re-appoint Timothy C. Collins to the sei^'ice, to 
dismiss the case of Timothy C. Collins from their 
records, and discharge the committee appointed last 
month to visit him as an offender, for retaining the 
records of said meeting, as advised to do by this com- 
mittee, and likewise that the decision in the 8th month 
last, as entered on their minutes in relation to John 
Wilbur, against the judgment of concerned friends of 
that meeting and against the united advice of this com- 
mittee, be now set aside and be made void and of no 
effect. 

Signed by the committee appointed by Rhode Island 
Quarterly Meeting to visit South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting and advise it on its behalf. 

Asa Sherman, 
Beriah Collins, 
Joseph Met calf, 
Arnold Congdon, 
Members of the Committee present. 
Hojpkinton, \Oth Mo,, 2Ath, 1842. 

The advice having been twice read, and embrac- 
ing matters of great moment, and w holly unprece- 
dented, involving not only the rights of individuals, 
but of meetings, it was proposed to refer it another 
month for consideration. This document being 
dated at Hopkinton, the same day, those present 
were asked if the whole of the committee were con- 
sulted in those advices ; they answered in the nega- 
tive. On enquiiy of the committee, whether they 
intended to ask the meeting to act upon it w^ithout 
time for dehberation, one of them replied he thought 
it reasonable that the meeting should have time to 
consider of it. But afterwards the committee, and 
a few members of the Monthly Meeting, advocated 



EXPOSITION. 



8B 



the immediate compliance of the meeting. The 
subject was, however, referred for fm^ther conside- 
ration to the nexth month. 

At the Quarterly Meeting held at Somerset, 3rd 
of 1 1th month, 1842, the committee appointed at last 
Quarterly Meeting, to visit South Kingston and 
Swanzey Monthly Meetings, reported that they had 
visited Swanzey Monthly Meeting, and extended 
such advice as appeared necessary ; that they had 
also visited South Kingston Monthly Meeting in the 
eighth month, and given their advice in relation to 
the business of that meeting, which was disregarded^ 
they continuing to manifest a spirit of insubordina- 
tion, &c., having appointed a committee to deal with 
their former clerk, for complying with the advice of 
the Quarterly and Yearly Meeting's Committees in 
retaining the records of that meeting ; that they had 
also again visited them in the tenth month and given 
them advice in writing, (here reciting their advice to 
the Monthly Meeting) which advice was not accept- 
ed by the meeting, but they referred the considera- 
tion of it another month. 

In conclusion, they gave it as their united judg- 
ment, (as near as recollected) that South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting was not in a suitable state to tran- 
sact business as a Monthly Meeting in conformity 
with our Christian Discipline, and to the further- 
ance of the best interests of Society, and therefore 
recommended that that Monthly Meeting be dis« 
solved, and the members of it joined to Greenwich 
Monthly Meeting. 

The reading of the Discipline under the head of 
Quarterly Meetings was called for by a member of 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting, and urged by 
many Friends^ and for a considerable time refus- 
ed, during which time several united with the re- 
port. 

At length, after much importunity the Discipline 
was read, and it having been shown that the adop- 



86 



NARRATIVE AND 



tion of the report would be a direct violation of it, 
some of the Yearly Meeting's Committee said a 
wrong construction was put upon the Discipline, but 
did not attempt to point out in what particulars. 

Many Friends spoke against the adoption of the 
report, insomuch that the meeting appeared nearly 
equally divided; but a disposition being plainly 
manifested to adopt the report, some of the members 
of South Kingston Monthly Meeting strongly re- 
monstrated against the summary dissolution of that 
meeting and joining it to another, as a violation of 
the plain provisions of the Discipline, and asked for 
an opportunity to he heard before a committee, or in 
some other mode, before the Quarterly Meeting 
should proceed to this extremity. This was denied. 
It was then stated on the part of South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting, that if no other opportunity 
w^as to be afforded they should now be obliged to 
make a statement of the proceedings of the Yearly 
and Quarterly Meeting's Committees in that Month- 
ly Meeting, for the information of the Quarterly 
Meeting before it should act in so important a case. 
Such opportunity being denied, one of the represen- 
tatives from South Kingston Monthly Meeting, rose 
to read such statements ; when he was peremptorily 
directed by the clerk to " take his seat and put up 
his paper," but he continued to stand, and amidst 
great interruption, to plead for the privilege and the 
right to be heard. The clerk, however, who was 
himself an active member of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, read the minute dissolving the Monthly 
Meeting.* 

By the provisions of the minute, South Kingston 



♦ It may be here remarked, that in this meeting the principal and 
almost entire actors and managers in this case against the ^Ionthly 
Meeting, were members of the Yearly and Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee, who have been so often alluded to, in the preceding 
pages. 



EXPOSITION. 



87 



Monthly Meeting is dissolved, and the members 
thereof annexed to Greenwich Monthly Meeting. 
It provides that the books be delivered to some per- 
son to be appointed by Greenwich Monthly Meet- 
ing to receive them, and that all unfinished business 
be closed by that Monthly Meeting. It declares 
null and void the appointment of the addition to the 
committee, in the fifth month, in the case of John 
Wilbur, and the adoption of the report in his case ; 
also all that has been done in the case of Timothy 
C. Collins. It continues the same committee, with 
instructions to visit South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
ing, next to be held at Hopkinton, and there to read 
to that meeting this minute of the Quarterly Meeting, 
and advise those assembled quietly to separate, and 
hereafter to consider themselves members of Green- 
wich Monthly Meeting, and under its care ; and the 
committee is authorized and directed to extend its 
care over all the Monthly Meetings in the Quarter. 

When the clerk had concluded reading the 
minute, the said representative, who had remained 
standing, stated that he felt it to be due, both to 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting, and to the Quar- 
terly Meeting, to read the statement, although the 
dissolution had been consummated, and he proceed- 
ed to read. 

At first his voice was nearly drowned by the 
noise and confusion in the house, much of which 
proceeded from members of the Yearly and Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committees. The clerk attempted 
to proceed with the business, sending the minute 
into the woman's meeting, &c. The noise, how- 
ever, soon nearly subsided, and most of the reading 
was pretty w^ell heard. When the paper was about 
half read, the person reading was requested to stop 
in order to have a passage read from the Discipline, 
but this he declined, and continued the reading until 
it was finished. 

After he had concluded, the clerk read from the 



88 



NARRATIVE AND 



Discipline, page 154, which advises against the 
reading of any papers, except such as are from im- 
mediate correspondents, without their first being 
examined by a committee. The Friend who had 
read the paper said he had no intention to violate 
the Discipline, but he considered the reading of the 
statement justifiable under the extraordinary cir- 
cumstances of the case.* 

About ten days after the Quarterly Meeting the 
representative who read the statement in that meet- 
ing, was informed by a young man, a member of 
South Kingston INIonthly Meeting, that he met at 
Friend's School, Providence, one of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee alluded to in the following 
passage from the statement, viz : 

Before the report was returned by the women, an 
attempt was made by two of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, sitting at the head of the meeting, to break 
it up, but it was not successful, and the report was re- 
turned united with by the women's meeting." 



* The reading cf this paper was thought to be justifiable for seve- 
ral reasons. Fhst, it was the only opportunity left for a hearing; 
secondly, a Monthly INIeeting is required by the Discipline, page 
43, when the Quarterly meeting is dissatisfied w^th any of its pro- 
ceedings, to render a satisfactory account to the Quarterly iNleeting. 
Now, tile Monthly Meeting b sing debarred from rendering such an 
account, it must be done by individuals, if done at all, and was done 
by one of the representatives. The whole proceedmgs of the Quar- 
terly Meeting were most irregular and disorderly, depriving the 
Monthly ^Meeting at once of all its rights, and even of its existence. 
A member of the Yearly Meeting's Committee had been allowed 
to comment on the proceeding of the Monthly Meeting with great 
severity, misrepresenting and condemning the Monthly Meeting as 
a whole, and personally reproaching and reviling a member of it in 
particular. It was felt to be right, under these circumstances, to 
make a plain statement of facts before the meeting separated. The 
written statement was read only because it was more strictly ac- 
curate, and more concise, than could have been made verbally ; and 
the character of it was distinctly stated before it was read. The 
statement read was substantially the same now published, begin- 
ning with the 4th month and ending with the 10th month, 1843. 



EXPOSITION. 



89 



This member of the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
took him^ the young man, aside, and told him that 
this part of the statement was false, that they had 
no thought of such a thing, and requested him to 
correct this mis-statement. On receiving this infor- 
mation the representative aforesaid wrote this mem- 
ber of the Yearly Meeting's Committee, asking him 
for some explanation, as the attempt alluded to pass- 
ed under his own eye, and was, besides, susceptible 
of full proof by others. The propriety of calling 
upon the person who had made the statement, to 
correct it if it Vv'as claimed to be erroneous, Vv'as 
brought to view in this letter, the writer holding 
himself fully responsible for it. No reply was made 
to the letter. 

At the conclusion of the Monthly Meeting at 
Greenwich, 2d of 1st month, 1843, the representa- 
tive aforesaid, taking two or three Friends with him, 
sought an interview with both members of the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee, implicated in the 
charge. The matter being opened they both denied 
having done any such thing, or having had any idea 
of it. A certificate was then read of their denial, 
from the young man who first gave information of 
it, which was acknowledged to be essentially cor- 
rect. This was followed by certificates from five 
individuals, (two have since been added) who testi- 
fied that they saw the two friends in question sit- 
ting at the head of the meeting, at Hopkinton, in the 
eighth month, shake hands in the common form of 
breaking up a meeting among Friends, while the 
report of the committee in the case of John Wilbur 
was under consideration in the Vvomen's meet- 
ing ; but just as this was done, and before there 
was tim^e for any others to follow, the women re- 
turned the report, and the meeting remained some 
time longer together. In addition to this was the 
testimony of several Friends, that both before and 
after the act of shaking hands, they saw movements 



90 



NARRATIVE AND 



on the part of the two Friends in question which 
left no doubts on their minds, that they intended 
prematurely to break up the meeting. After this 
testimony was read they continued to deny the 
act, although one of them seemed to wish to soften 
things somewhat ; said he could recollect nothing 
about it, but i f they did shake hands, it must be they 
thought meeting was through ; but the one who first 
made the denial said it could not be so, they could 
not have forgotten if they had done it. Being ask- 
ed, after all the testimony which had been adduced, 
to retract his charge of falsehood, he said " he had 
nothing to retract," and thus the matter was left. 
The certificates alluded to are as follows : 

CERTIFICATE OF ABEL C. MONROE. 

** This may certify that I was at Friend^s Boarding 
School, in Providence, on the 4th of 11th month last, 
on my return from the Quarterly Meeting, held at 
Somerset, the previous day ; and there met with Thos. 
Anthony, who asked me if I lived at my grandmother's 
now; — I replied in the affirmative, and he then asked 
to speak with me, and we stepped to the door, (in the 
porch.) Thomas then said, that the statement made in 
the paper read in Quarterly Meeting, in relation to the 
attempt to break up the Monthly Meeting, at Hopkin- 
ton, was false ; — that he and Rowland Greene had no 
thought of such a thing. He said he wished me to 
correct this mis-statement ; that he thought it no more 
than right that it should be corrected. 

(Signed,) A, C. Monroe, 

1st Mo., 1, 1843. 



HoPKiNTON, 12th Mo. 25th, 1842. 

We hereby certify, that at the Monthly Meeting 
of Friends, held at Hopkinton, on the 22d of Sth month 
last, while the report of the committee in the case of 
John Wilbur, was in the hands of the women's meet- 
ing, we saw Rowland Greene and Thomas Anthony, 
then sitting at the head of the meeting, shake hands 



EXPOSITION. 



91 



after the manner of Friends when breaking up a meet- 
ing but just at that moment, before there was time 
for others to follow, the women returned the report, 
and the meeting remained some time longer together. 
(Signed,) 

Isaiah Ray, 
Ethan Foster, 
Charles Perry, 
William Foster, 
John Peckham, 
John W. Collins." 



" I hereby certify, that at South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, held at Hopkinton, on the 22d of 8th month, 
1842 ; that whilst the report of the committee was in 
the women's meeting, I saw Rowland Greene and 
Thomas Anthony shake hands, in the common form of 
breaking up a meeting among Friends, 

(Signed,) Peleg Kenyon." 

12th Mo. 2m, 1842. 



Westerly, 12th Month 30, 1842. 
I hereby certify that in addition to the act of sha- 
king hands as described in the foregoing certificates, I 
saw movements on the part of Rowland Greene and 
Thomas Anthony, in the meeting alluded to, both be- 
fore and after that act, and before the business was 
concluded, or the minutes read, such as left no doubt 
on my mind of their design to break up the meeting." 

(signed,) Ethan Foster. 

Westerly, 12th Month 30, 1842. 
" I hereby certify that I saw a movement on the 
part of Rowland Greene and Thomas Anthony in the 
Monthly Meeting at Hopkinton, in the 8th month last, 
after the report in the case of John Wilbur was re- 
turned by the women, such as satisfied me they intend- 
ed to break up the meeting. And fearing from these 
repeated attempts, that the meeting might be prema- 
turely dismissed, I spoke of our practice to read the 
minutes before the meeting separated, and hoped that 



92 



NARRATIVE AND 



Ave should conform to that usage ; which was after- 
wards done." 

(Signed,) Charles Perry. 



Westerly, 12th Month 30th, 1842. 
''"We hereby certify that at the Monthly Meeting of 
Friends, held at Hopkinton on 22d of 8th month last, 
we saw movements made by Rowland Greene and 
Thomas Anthony, about the time the report in the case 
of John Wilbur was returned from the women's meet- 
ing, and before the business of the meeting was con- 
cluded, or the minutes of it read, which left no doubt 
on our minds that they attempted and intended them 
to break up the meeting." 

(Signed,) John Foster, 

Thomas Perry, 
Isaac Collins. 



*' I hereby certify that at the Monthly Meeting at 
Hopkinton, in the eighth month last, I sat on the seat 
directly before Rowland Greene and Thomas Anthony, 
and that I heard Thomas ask the clerk if the business 
was not through ; to which the clerk replied there 
would be business from the women ; and I then dis- 
tinctly heard Rowland say, * We shall have nothing 
more from the women,' and turning my head, I saw 
motions on their part which apj^eared like shaking 
hands; — at this juncture the door opened, and the 
women returned the report united with by their meet- 
ing/' (Signed,) Thomas Foster. 

^Ist Month 2nd, 1843. 

At the jMonthly Meeting held at Hopkinton on 
the 21st of 11th month, 1842, several of the Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committee attended, and read the 
minute of the Quarterly Meeting, dissolving South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting, both in the men's and 
women's meetings, and advised the members in the 
language of that minute, quietly to separate, and 
consider themselves members of Greenwich Month- 



EXPOSITION. 



93 



iy Meeting, and under its care whereupon they 
withdrew, and eleven members of each meeting 
with them. Before they left, application was made 
to them on behalf of South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, for a copy of the minute of the Quarterly 
Meeting, but they declined giving one. 

The Monthly Meeting continued together, and 
concluded to appeal to the next Yearly Meeting, 
against the decision of the Quarterly Meeting ; and 
then, notwithstanding the injustice and irregularity 
of the requirement, it was concluded to suspend the 
Monthly Meeting, until the Yearly Meeting shall 
have acted on the appeal The following is a copy 
of the minute of appeal : 

The document presented to our last Monthly 
Meeting, by the Quarterly^ INIeeting's Committee, and 
then referred, coming nov/ under consideration, and no- 
tice being now received through that committee and 
our representatives, that our Quarterly Meeting has 
sanctioned the edvice therein contained, and has also 
proceeded at once to dissolve this meeting, and join 
the members of it to Greenwich Monthly jMeeting, as 
well as to annul a portion of the business heretofore 
done, and recorded by this meeting ; we have come to 
the conclusion to appeal to our next Yearly ]Meeting 
against the advice of the Quarterly Meeting's Commit- 
tee, and the judgment of the Quarterly Meeting in 
confirming it, as not being in accordance with the prop- 
er maintenance of the discipline and our ancient 
Christian testimonies. "We also appeal against the 
decision of our said Quarterly jMeeting, dissohing this 
meeting and the Select Meeting, and their junction 
with those of Greenwich, as uncalled for by any pro- 
ceeding of ours, and in its manner premature, and in 
plain violation of our discipline. 

" And we also appeal against such other decrees of 
the Quarterly Meeting as go to annul or affect the 
rights, or property, or duties of this meeting, as granted 
to it, or conferred upon it, and required of it, by the 



94 



NARRATIVE AND 



Yearly Meeting, as set forth in our rules of discipline ; 
and Othniel Foster, John Wilbur, John Foster of 
Charlestown, Charles Perry, Isaac Collins, John Fos- 
ter of Hopkinton, Ethan Foster, Samuel Sheffield and 
Elisha Kenyon, are appointed to represent this meeting 
and to act on its behalf, in prosecuting this appeal be- 
fore the Yearly Meeting, or such committee as it shall 
appoint to hear the same, and our clerk is directed to 
furnish Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, Greenwich 
Monthly Meeting, and the committee of this meeting, 
named above, with copies of this minute ; having the 
unity of the women's meeting herein.'' 

Extracted from the minutes of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, held at Hopkinton, 21 st of 11th 
month, 1842. 

(Signed,) Samuel Sheffield, Clerk, 



And we the undersigned do also for ourselves, and 
on behalf and in the name of South Kingston Month- 
ly Meeting, or otherwise called the late Monthly 
Meeting of South Kingston, and on behalf of the mem- 
bers thereof, appeal to our next Yearly Meeting, 
against the judgment of Rhode Island Quarterly Meet- 
ing, held at Somerset, 3d of 11th month, 1842, in rela- 
tion to the dissolution of said South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, and reference is hereby made to the foregoing 
document, signed by Samuel Sheffield, clerk of said 
Monthly Meeting, for the manner and form of this our 
appeal, to be presented to our next Quarterly Meeting, 
and to our next Yearly Meeting ; and the same Friends 
as named above, are appointed by the signers of this 
paper, to represent them in the prosecution of this ap- 
peal." 

(This appeal was signed by eighty-two members of 
the Monthly Meeting.) 

Two of the Comnnittee of South Kingston Month- 
ly Meetinpr on the appeal, attended Greenwich 
INIonthly Meeting, held at Cranston, in the 11th 
month, and laid a copy of the appeal on the clerk's 
table. The meeting did not seem disposed to re- 



EXPOSITION. 



95 



ceive it ; the clerk attempted to return it to the 
person who had placed it upon the table, but he de- 
clining to take it back, the clerk finally kept it. The 
minute of the Quarterly Meeting, by which South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting is dissolved and joined 
to Greenw^ich, was read and acceded to on the part 
of Greenwich Monthly Meeting. 

At Greenwich Monthly Meeting, held at East 
Greenwich, 2d of 1st month, 1843, two members of 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee, and one of the 
Quarterly Meeting's Committee, besides those be- 
longing to Greenwich Monthly Meeting, attended. 

A committee being about to be appointed to bring 
in names for new overseers, &c., including those 
for the preparative meetings heretofore constituting 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting ; it w^as proposed 
and concluded that the clerk should not take the 
name of any person on the coQimittee, that he 
should conscientiously believe not to be in unity with 
the Yearly and Quarterly Meetings and their com- 
mittees. 

One of the Yearly Meeting's Committee request- 
ed that the minute of the Quarterly Meeting be 
again read, which was done. He then said it would 
be seen by this minute that the appointment of a 
part of the committee, and the report of the com- 
mittee in the case of John Wilbur, were annulled, 
and that it now became the duty of the committee 
originally appointed, to report to this meeting, 
f One of the two of that committee w^ho made the 
counter report in the eighth month, enquired if it 
would not be proper for them to have another in- 
terview with John Wilbur, and this w^as concluded 
on. Objection was made to this proceeding, on the 
ground that South Kingston Monthly Meeting had 
appealed from the decision of the Quarterly Meet- 
ing ; that the action against that meeting was solely 
in consequence of its decision in the case of John 
Wilbur ; — that case was specified and fully brought 



96 



NARRATIVE AND 



to view, in the Quarterly Meeting's Committee's 
advice and the Quarterly Meeting's minute, and the 
appeal ought to stay all proceedings in the case, 
until the Yearly Meeting should decide it. This 
just and reasonable ground was not allowed, but a 
member of the Yearly Meeting's Committee, w^ho 
had from the first been very active in the case, said 
that the appeal and this case were distinct matters. 
Another member of the same committee urged, that 
if that Monthly Meeting intended to be subordinate 
to superior meetmgs, it must, as the Quarterly 
Meeting had directed, close the unfinished business 
of South Kingston ^Monthly ^Meeting, and this case 
was particularly mentioned and brought before 
them by the Quarterly Meeting's minute. It had 
annulled the proceedings of South Kingston Month- 
ly Meeting in the case. 

It was replied, that South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting had apjjeaJed against all this, and that it 
would only be proper for the Monthly Meeting to 
cdiTry out the direction of the Quarterly Meeting, 
after the Yearly •Meeting had decided that the 
Quarterly fleeting had done right, — when a member 
of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee said, as to 
this matter of appeal, there were some doubt i&hether 
there was any such meeting as South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, when the appeal was made ! thus 
striking at the right of appeal. This ground, how- 
ever, was not maintained, and afterwards a member 
of the Yearly Meeting's Committee said he did not 
suppose this Friend meant to call in question the 
right of appeal. He said no ! 

A minute was made directing the committee in 
the case of J. W., to report at a future meeting. 

At Greenw^ich Monthly Meeting, held at Coven- 
try, 30th of 1st month, 1843, three members of the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee attended, besides 
those belonging to that meeting. The case of John 
Wilbur was taken up, and one of the committee ap- 



EXPOSITION, 



97 



pointed in the fourth month by South Kingston. 
Monthly Meeting, stated that two of them had met, 
having given notice of the meeting to the others, 
and also to John Wilbur, that the latter might be 
present,^ if he saw fit, and make an acknowledg- 
ment — but he refused to attend. These tvv^o mem- 
bers of the committee made the following report, to 
wit; 

" We, of the committee appointed in the 4th month 
last, in the case of John Wilbur report : that we have 
attended to the duties assigned us, by meeting John 
Wilbur and the Yearly Meeting's Committee, and 
hearing the evidence in the case, and which was in our 
judgment sufficient to substantiate all the charges pre- 
ferred against him, and which charges, having relation 
altogether to his departure from discipline and good 
order, it was evident to us his defence ought to be pre- 
dicated on that ground alone. And whereas the other 
part of the Monthly Meeting's Committee, were wil- 
ling to allow him to make his defence, by leaving this 
only legitimate ground, and go into a justification of 
his conduct by allusions to doctrines, and which in our 
view was entirely foreign to the subject matter under 
consideration. We, therefore, felt ourselves bound to 
dissent from such a course. And it is our united sense 
and judgment that he is not in a situation and state of 
mind, to be continued a member of our religious socie- 
ty, which we submit to the Monthly Meeting. 

William S. Perry, 
Hezekiah Babcock. 

BovAh Kingston, 1th Mo. 22d, 1842.'* 

This report was in the same w^ords as that pre- 
sented by the same persons, to South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting in the eighth month, except that 



* This was incorrect ; he was not asked to be present, bat merely 
notified, by letter, of the time of then- meeting, and informed that 
he might send in an a^jknowledgment, if so disposed. 

5 



98 



NARRATIVE AND 



in the latter the word " alF' occurred before the 
words "the charges." 

The meetmg bemg now about to act upon the re- 
port ; some of the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
uniting therewith, it was stated that the complaint 
against J. W. had never been read in that Monthly 
IMeeting — and upon enquiry it was found that the 
complaint was not now present in the meeting. 

The clerk sent a messenger for it, and the meet- 
ing suspended further proceedings in the case, until 
his return. 

When the complaint was brought in, it was read, 
and the report of the committee was then united with 
by most or all the members of the Yearly and Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committees present, and two others. 

Objection was made to the report by several 
Friends, but the clerk, an active member of the 
Y'"early jMeeting's Committee, made a minute adopt- 
ing it, and John Wilbur was thus disowned. 

At Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting held at Pro- 
vidence, in the 2d month, 1843, one of the Commit- 
tee of South Kingston Monthly Meeting on their 
appeal, laid a copy of the appeal on the clerk's ta- 
ble, in the eax'ly part of the meeting, and after a 
time the clerk stated that there was a paper on the 
table purporting to be an appeal from South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting, and asked for the direction of 
the meeting, as to what disposition should be made 
of it. It was proposed to appoint some Friends to 
take it and examine it, and report whether it should 
be read. The reading of the discipline relating to 
such appeals was called for, but the committee was 
first appointed, and after they had taken the appeal 
out for examination, considerable profession was 
made of willingness to have the discipline read, and 
it was tfien done. Shortly after, the committee re- 
turned the appeal, and recommended that it be 
read ; which being done, the clerk said Friends 
would observe, that there was the name of a Friend 



EXPOSITION. 



99 



on the Committee of the Monthly Meeting on the 
appeal, who had been placed under dealing by the 
action of the Quarterly Meeting. He said the 
meeting would decide w^hether they would allow 
that name to stand there, in case the appeal should 
go on their minutes. 

After considerable discussion, in which the in- 
justice and incompatibility wath the discipline, of the 
act of the Quarterly Meeting was shown, — the 
clerk made a minute stating in substance, that al- 
though the appeal contained the name of a Friend, 
placed under dealing by the action of the Quarterly 
Meeting, we have concluded to enter it upon our 
minutes, and send it up to our next Yearly Meeting. 

One of the Yearly Meeting's Committee corrected 
the clerk as to the latter clause, saying that the 
conclusion of the meeting was, to refer the consid- 
eration of it until next quarter, whereupon he made 
that alteration. The same member of that com- 
mittee proposed that the word " individuar' should 
be substituted for " Friend," and the clerk at once 
made the change. 

While the appeal was in the hands of the com- 
mittee, a member of South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, (one of the committee on the appeal,) sta- 
ted that at the time that Monthly Meeting was dis- 
solved, a request was made of the Quarterly Meet- 
ing's Committee, then present, for a copy of the 
minute authorizing the dissolution, but it was re- 
fused ; that since then application has been made 
to the clerk of the Quarterly Meeting for a copy, 
who also refused it, on the ground that he was not 
authorized to give it, without the authority of that 
meeting. He now requested of the meeting, on 
behalf of the committee on the appeal, a copy of 
that minute. 

A member of the Yearly jMeeting's Committee 
said that the meeting had not come to any conclu- 
sion, as to the disposition of the appeal ; he thought 



100 



NARRATIVE AND 



it proper to wait until that was decided on, and 
then the subject might be taken up. The Friend 
who made the request, expressed his satisfaction 
with that course. Afterwards, when the appeal 
had been referred to the next quarter, the clerk 
being about to proceed to other business, application 
w^as renewed on behalf of South Kingston Monthly- 
Meeting, for a copy of the Quarterly Meeting's 
minute, but it was refused, a member of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee saying, that he thought it im- 
proper to give a copy ! that it would be sufficient 
for them to furnish the Yearly Meeting with a 
copy ! and this being sustained by other members 
of the same committee, the meeting proceeded with 
other business ; thus denying South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting a copy of the document by which 
it had been dissolved, containing matters of the 
greatest importance relative to their case. 

[It is worthy of remark that a// who took ground 
in this meeting, against furnishing South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting with a copy of^ this document, 
were members of the Yearly or Quarterly Meet- 
ing's Committees, most of them the same men who 
had been so active in the case of John Wilbur from 
the beginning.] 

At the Quarterly Meeting held at Greenwich in 
the 5th month, 1843, the account from Greenwich 
Monthly Meeting informed, that John Wilbur hav- 
ing given them notice of his intention to appeal 
froni their judgment disowning him, they had ap- 
pointed a committee to represent the case before a 
Committee of the Quarterly Meeting. It was stated 
on behalf of John Wilbur, that he did not intend to 
prosecute his appeal at that time. 

Representatives were appointed to attend the 
Yearly Meeting, one of whom asked to be excused, 
which being done, another was named in his place, 
but being obnoxious to those in authority, his name 



EXPOSITION. 



101 



was rejected, upon the pretence that there were al- 
ready enough appointed. 

The minute of the last meeting, relating to the 
appeal of South Kingston Monthly Meeting was 
read. A member of the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee spoke of the great strait he was in, on ac- 
count of the name of an individual, standing as one 
of the committee on the appeal, who had been 
placed under dealing by the action of the Quarterly 
Meeting ; and said he did not see how the appeal 
could be carried forward in its present shape. 
Another member of the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee expressed himself in a similar manner. 

A Friend remarked if this was the case, Green- 
wich Monthly Meeting might have disowned all 
the members of the appeal committee, and thus 
have defeated it altogether. Another Friend said 
he thought the minute of the Quarterly Meeting 
carried its own condemnation on the face of it, 
stating as it did that an individual was placed un- 
der deahng by the Quarterly Meeting ; he knew 
no discipline to warrant such a thing. 

The clerk said he was ready to propose that this 
appeal should he again referred ! A Friend from 
South Kingston said the appeal was made to the 
next Yearly Meeting, and to refer it again would 
defeat the appeal. 

It was now concluded to appoint a committee to 
I'epresent the case at the Yearly Meeting, — pre- 
mising that none should be appointed, who did not 
unite with the proceedings in laying the Monthly 
Meeting down. 

The following persons were appointed, viz : 

Perez Peck, Allen Wing, Beriah Collins, Joseph 
Metcalf, Nicholas Congdon, Arnold Congdon, Wil- 
liam S. Perry and Wilham A. Robinson. By the 
minute of their appointment, the clerk is directed to 
furnish them, with all needful extracts from th© 
minutes. 



102 



NARRATIVE AND 



The committee on the appeal of South Kingston 
Monthly ]\Ieeting, made application in writing for 
access to the records of the Quarterly Meeting, 
with a view to the timely preparation of the case ; 
referring to the discipline, " that our records shall 
be open to any of our meetings, particular members, 
and to such others as the respective Monthly Meet- 
ings may think necessary, for the ascertaining of 
marriages, births, or other rights P^-ge 43. 

This request, after considerable discussion, was 
refused ; and much severity of expression was in- 
dulged in towards the applicants ; after which a 
member of South Kingston Monthly Meeting rose, 
and very calmly commenced speaking, — when a 
large number of persons in the body of the meeting 
rose and hurried out of the house, those at the head 
of the meeting shook hands, and it broke up in the 
greatest confusion and disorder. 

The voice of the person speaking was entirely 
drowned by the noise, and perceiving the meeting 
really breaking up, he desisted. 

At New England Yearly Meeting, held on Rhode 
Island, 6th month, 1843. 

It appeared from the account of Rhode Island 
Quarterly Meeting, that a portion of Greenwich 
Monthly Meeting, late members of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting had appealed from their judgment 
dissolving said Monthly Meeting and annexing the 
same to Greenwich, and that they had appointed 
Perez Peck and others to represent the Quarterly 
Meeting before a Committee of the Yearly Meeting 
to be appointed to hear the appeal. 

When this case came up, the clerk read the dis- 
cipline relating to such appeal, and remarked that 
it had been customary in cases of appeal to appoint 
a committee of two Friends from each Quarterly 
Meeting, but proposed in this case the appointment 
of three from each Quarter, which was united 
with. 



EXPOSITION. 



108 



On behalf of South Kingston Monthly Meeting a 
desire was expressed to have the case tried in open 
Yearly Meeting, for the full information of the 
members generally before acting thereon, and re- 
ferring to the practice of London Yearly Meeting, 
in important cases — where doctrines are involved. 
This w^as objected to on the ground that we must 
be governed by our own discipline ; and that the 
usual mode of trying appeal cases should be adher- 
ed to. 

The clerk said that in cases of defamation, the 
discipline gave the person complained of the right to 
object to those named for a committee, provided 
such objection does not extend to the major part 
thereof, — but there was no discipline which would 
apply to cases of this kind. He said, however, that 
the usage of Society had been to allow appellants 
this privilege in other cases, so far as he knew. He 
proposed to read from the discipline of another 
Yearly Meeting ; but objection being made on the 
ground that the Yearly fleeting had already deci- 
ded that w^e must be governed by our ow^n disci- 
pline, he did not read it. 

A Friend said if he w^as correctly informed, there 
was a large Committee of the Yearly Meeting 
which had been active in this case, having repeat- 
edly attended South Kingston ]Monthly Meeting, 
and advised m relation to the proceedings wliich 
had taken place in regard to that meetmg — and if 
so, he thought it improper to appoint members of 
that committee, on thiis appeal. The clerk repHed 
it might not be proper to appoint those of that 
committee who had attended South Kingston 
Monthly Z\Ieeting and been actixe in the case. Ob- 
jection v/as made on behalf of South Kingston 
Monthly ^Meeting to the appointment of any portion 
of the Yearly ?tleeting's Committee, and allow- 
ing them to nominate for this committee. 



104 



NARRATIVE AND 



The clerk proceeded to take names, and having 
obtamed the requisite number, enquiry \vas made 
whether any of the Yearly Meeting's Committee "was 
included among them. The clerk replied there was 
one; that one asked to be excused, which being 
done, another friend was appointed in his place. It 
was also stated that several members of the com- 
mittee had been named by members of the Yearly 
Meeting s Committee, and objection was made to 
these. 

A member of the Yearly Meetmg's Committee 
said, if these friends were objected to, it would not 
probably stop there ; that objection would be made 
on the other side, &c. The committee was allow- 
ed to stand without further alteration. 

A friend from Sandwich Quarterly Meeting said, 
it appeared evident to him from the Discipline, 
as read by the clerk, that the Quarterly ^Meeting 
had departed from it, in annexing South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting to another, wliile at the same time 
the Monthly Meeting has appealed against the dis- 
solution. If he understood it right, the Discipline 
only allows such annexation in case the Monthly 
Meeting refuses to appeal. 

He requested the clerk again to read that para- 
graph giving this right of annexation. The assist- 
ant clerk then read the succeeding paragraph. The 
friend said this was not the one, but the preceding 
one he wished read. 

The whole passage was then read ; when done, 
the friend said it was very clear that the Discipline 
had not been kept to, for the Monthly Meeting not 
only had not refused to appeal, but the Quarterly 
Meeting had given us information that it had actual- 
ly appealed. 

The clerk was requested to read the " appeal,'' a 
copy of which was in his hands, and several friends 
expressed a wish to have it read, when one of the 
Yearly Meetmg's Committee said, that by our Dis- 



EXPOSITION. 



105 



cipline, no paper could be read in our meetings not 
coming from an immediate correspondent, unless 
first examined by a committee. To this it was re- 
plied, that the Discipline made these appellants im- 
mediate correspondents by giving the right of ap- 
peal; and that the Yearly Meeting ought to know the 
grounds on which the appeal is made. 

After considerable discussion it was decided not 
to read the Appeal, but the copy was by the clerk 
handed to the committee just appointed. 

From the minutes of the meeting for Sufferings, it 
appeared that a committee was appointed in the 1 1th 
month, 1842, to prepare a statement of the condition 
of things among us, particularly in Rhode Island 
Quarterly Meeting, which was not generally w^ell 
understood. This committee reported from time to 
time their progress, and a few weeks before the 
Yearly Meeting they reported that they had pre- 
pared such a statement, but thought it best to defer 
the presentation of it for the present, but that they 
had in the prosecution of this labor, been introduced 
into a concern to prepare an essay upon the doc- 
trines and testimonies of the Society, which they 
produced, and it being read, it was referred to a 
committee then specially appointed, to take it into 
their consideration, and make such amendments as 
they may deem proper, and report. The document 
was subsequently adopted by the meeting for Suf- 
ferings, read in Yearly Meeting and directed to be 
printed.^ 

Returning minutes were presented and adopted 
by the meeting for two ministers and their com- 
panions, who were in attendance from New York 
Yearly Meeting. None were prepared for three 



* The statement respecting Rhode Island Quarterly Meetings 
&c.. said to have been prepared as above, has never appeared. 
The committee was appointed on the subject about the time South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting was dissolved. 

5* 



106 



NARRATIVE AND 



ministers and their companions from Philadelphia 
Yearly Meeting, nor for a minister and his com- 
panion from Ohio Yearly meeting, all of whom, ex- 
cept one of the companions, were present with the 
usual credentials which had been recognized in the 
usual manner by the Yearly Meeting. 

At the last sitting of the Yearly Meeting the com- 
mittee on the appeal presented two reports ; the 
first, that the judgment of Rhode Island Quarterly 
Meeting ought to be confirmed, which was sign- 
ed as follows : 

John Page, William Farr, 

Isaac R. Gifford, Nathan G. Chase, 
Stephen Jones, Nathan Pope, 
Moses Farnum, James N. Fry, 
Stephen Jones, Jr., Paul Taber, 
Elijah Pope, Tobias Meader, 

David Douglass. 

The other, that the judgment of the Quarterly 
Meeting ought to be reversed, because some of its 
proceedings were in violation of the Discipline. This 
latter report was signed as follows : 

Jonathan Nichols, John Milton Earle, 
Prince Gardener, Jonathan S. Millett, 
James Tucker, William Hill. 

Two members of the committee, viz : Joseph 
Bracket and Samuel Foster did not sign either re- 
port. 

J. M. Earle, of the committee, said he wished to 
explain his views, and he thought that when indi- 
viduals or meetings are subjected to disciplinary 
proceedings, they were entitled to have the Disci- 
pline strictly adhered to ; and in this case, while he 
united in the conclusion to which the Quarterly 
Meeting came, he thought some of its proceedings 
were not in accordance with the Discipline. Moses 



EXPOSITION. 



107 



Farnum said he thought, himself, that the DiscipHne 
had not been so strictly adhered to by the Quarter- 
ly Meeting as would have been desirable, but con- 
sidering that they acted under the advice of a large 
committee, with authority from the Yearly Meet- 
ing, he thought it would do to confirm their judg- 
ment. 

The report of the majority was adopted, and after 
the clerk had commenced making the minute, one 
of the committee of South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
ing on the appeal rose and began to speak by say- 
ing, that as this subject was now disposed of and 
anything he should say could not go to affect the 
result, — here he was interrupted by the assistant 
clerk, who said the subject was still open for further 
expression ; and the friend sa,t down. 

Subsequent to this, both before and after the mi- 
nute was read, many spoke in close succession, ex- 
horting to submission and acquiesence in the conclu- 
sions of the body, and one remarked that he thought 
he could discover the working of a restless and op- 
posing spirit, and expressed his desire that such 
might be stayed and bound down, &c. J. M. of 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee said he felt desir- 
ous that the meeting should be brought to a close 
as soon as might be, and not unnecessarily detain 
Friends. About this time the same member of the 
appeal committee who had before essayed to speak, 
rose and said that the longer he sa.t in this meeting 
the more he became confirmed in the belief that he 
should not leave it vvith peace of mind without ad- 
verting to the extraodinary powers claimed by the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee, who had repeatedly 
visited South Kingston Monthly Meeting — this duty 
seemed the niore imperative, as that committee had 
been again re-appointed ; they had claimed when 
with us, that they were clothed with all the authori- 
ty and power of the Yearly Meeting, that their ad- 
vice was discipline ; equally binding with any other ; 



108 



XAERATIVE AND 



and this claim has again been set up by the Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committee, during the investigation 
of this case ; and besides, one of the committee on 
the investigation has just admitted that he thought 
the Discipline had not been kept to, but considering 
the powers of this committee (who were advisatory 
to all these proceedings) he thought the judgment of 
the Quarterly Meeting might safely be confirmed. 
He apprehended that the members of this meeting 
w^ere not generally aware that so much was claim- 
ed by this committee. It appeared to him extraordi- 
nary and alarming. He wished friends to consider 
the consequences to which, if admitted by the Year- 
ly Meeting, it vAll inevitably lead. It appeared to 
him to strike at that fundamental doctrine of Friends, 
a belief in the influence of Truth upon the mind, and 
its paramount authority in transacting the business 
of Society, and the importance of being governed 
herein by its monitions ; for, how can w^e yield to 
its pointings should ihey conflict with advice by 
w^hich we are bound, and which we cannot do other- 
wise than accept ; or in other words, when under 
the influence of a counter and irresistible decree of 
a Yearly Meeting's Committee. It also destroys 
the benefit of an appeal, for if a member be disown- 
ed by a Monthly Meeting acting under such advice, 
and appeals, he stands no chance for obtaining re- 
dress, for he appeals to the very body by whose au- 
thority he was disowned in the first instance. These 
considerations he said had rested with increased 
weight upon his mind during the present sitting. 

Moses Farnum said he had hoped the committee 
would not now be censured, having acted accord- 
ing to the best of their judgment. 

The friend who had last spoken, replied he had 
not questioned the motives of the friend, and had 
not intended to, but that he had been led to fear from 
what he had seen, as well as what that friend had 
said, that there was danger of a regard for the Dis- 



EXPOSITION. 



109 



cipline becoming lessened if not lost. Several others 
now spoke in succession, expressing sympathy with 
those who felt themselves aggrieved, exhorting them 
to quietness and acquiesence, saying they felt much 
for them, &c. &c. When these had ceased, the 
meeting concluded. 

At Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting in the 8th 
month, 1843, a committee of nine was appointed in 
the case of John Wilbur's appeal, and an attempt 
was made to appoint members of the Yearly Meet- 
ing's Committee. This was opposed, on the ground 
that they had already prejudged the case, and some 
of them, several times over ; it was relinquished. 
But a proposition that none should be appointed 
who were not in unity with " the body," vvas adopt- 
ed and acted upon. The name of a friend who had 
taken no active part in the case, was refused, mere- 
ly because he was known to disapprove of some of 
the proceedings of the Quarterly Meeting. 

On asking for J. W. the privilege of objecting to 
a part of the committee, if he should desire it, agree- 
able to discipline, in cases of detraction, and a usage 
in all cases ; one of the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
took the ground, that the complaint against J. W. 
was not for detraction ; that if the word detraction 
was in the complaint, it was incidental, and as to 
usage, it was of no consequence — the meeting could 
do as it pleased ! ! It was decided that J. W. could 
not be allowed to object to any of the committee, 
unless the committee of Greenwich ?>Ionthly Meet- 
ing were allowed to object to an equal number, for 
which no provision is made in the Xew England 
Discipline. In the discussion of tliis question, as 
many opposed this decision as favored it ; and of 
the latter the Yearly and Quarterly Meeting's Com- 
mittees were the principal actors. 
^ John Wilbur being called in, and plead for his 
right of objection, both on ground of Discipline and 
usage, but without effect, and finally said, if this 



110 



NARRATIVE AND 



was the conclusion of the meeting, he should not at- 
tempt to exercise the right of objection, as it would 
be of no value. 

The committee appointed at this time, proposed 
to meet at Sommerset in the 11th month, at which 
time J. W. attended, when the committee informed 
him they had ascertained that one of their number 
was named by a member of Greenwich Monthly 
Meeting, which was not proper, and they could not 
consent to proceed on that account. J. Wilbur told 
them he came there [near fifty miles] prepared to 
proceed, and was anxious to do so, and that he 
would waive all objections on account of the irregu- 
larity named, but they pressed the objection and ad- 
journed to meet at Providence in the 2nd month, 
1844. 

At the Quarterly Meeting in the 11th month, 
1843, it was stated that a member of the committee 
on the appeal of J. W. had been improperly named 
by a member of Greenwich Monthly Meeting, and 
the clerk suggested that the same friend should be 
named by one of his own Monthly Meeting, which 
was done, and the committee stood as it did before. 
This committee met at Providence previous to the 
Quarterly Meeting held there in the second month 
and gave J. W. a hearing.* 

At that Quarterly Meeting six of the committee 
reported in favor of confirming the judgment of 
Greenwich Monthly Meeting, two signed a contra- 
ry report, and one was not present. Both reports 
were read. One of the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee was the first to unite with the report of the ma- 
jority ; he was followed by two others, who were 
not only of the same committee, but also of Green- 



* John Wilbur's defence before this committee, being substan- 
tially the same as bel'ore that appointed by the Yearly Meeting; it 
is omitted here and will be found in its proper place. 



EXPOSITION. 



Ill 



wich Monthly Meeting ! Both very active in that 
meeting in favor of J.XV.'s disov^nment ! Being also 
of the number of those who visited South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting sp constantly, and who were be- 
fore the committee of that meeting as prosecutors in 
the same case. 

On being reminded of the impropriety of this 
proceeding, another of the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, immediately united, and these four were all 
signers of the complaint against J. Wilbur. Others 
of the Yearly and Quarterly Meeting's Committee 
followed, and not more than three or four are be- 
lieved to have united with the majority report who 
were not of these committees. Some united with 
the other report, but the first was decided by the 
clerk to be adopted, and he made a minute to that 
effect. 

It was enquired whether John Wilbur would be 
allowed to come in and hear the conclusion; this 
enquiry being answered in the affirmative, he was 
called in and the clerk read the report and the 
minute adopting it. 

J. W. informed the meeting that he considered 
their decision not a rightful one, and that he wished 
to appeal to the Yearly Meeting against the judg- 
ment of this meeting. He then left the house. The 
appointment of a committee to represent the Quar- 
ter was referred to the next meeting. 

This case being thus disposed of, the case of T. 
P. N. was taken up, and a committee of three from 
each Monthly Meeting, except his own, (Rhode 
Island) was appointed to hear the parties.*' 



♦The case of T. P. N., by appeal from Rhode Island Monthly 
Meetnig, clearly originated in his decided and faithful opposition 
to the unsound doctrines sought to be introduced among us, al- 
though ostensibly based upon a frivolous and unfounded charge of 
improper behaviour under the ministry of public friends. He is 
an exemplary and consistent friend, and united with the Society 
about seven or eight years ago. 



112 



NARRATIVE AND 



The names of three friends who were nominated 
on this committee, were rejected on the ground that 
they were not in unity with the doings of the Yearly 
and Quarterly Meetings. 

The enquiry was made, whether the privilege of 
coming in and objecting to any of the committee 
would be accorded to the appellant, if he chose to 
avail himself of it. After some discussion on this 
question, in which the clerk said he was willing he 
should come in and hear the names read, but not 
that he should have the privilege of objection. T. 
P. N. was called in, and the minute including the 
names of the committee was read, after which he 
enquired, whether he was to understand that he had 
the right of objection to any of the committee, said 
he did not intend to ask for any unusual privilege, 
but only for such as he was entitled to by the disci- 
pline and usage of the society. This led to some 
further discussion, and the citing of former cases in 
favor of allowing the right of objection, as well as 
the decision of the clerk of the Yearly Meeting last 
year, that it had in all cases, so far as he knew, been 
the usage to allow objections. But both the usage 
and the decision were positively denied by some of 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee. 

The clerk said there was no discipline for it, and 
J. M., one of the Yearly Meeting's Committee said, 
he thought it would be best [or safest] to adhere 
hereafter to the strict letter of the discipline, and to 
hegin now. The right of objection was not allowed, 
and T. P. N. retired. 

After he left, E. F., a friend of the late South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting rose, and in an impres- 
sive manner spoke in substance as follows : 

" In view of the judgment of the meeting in the 
two appeal cases which have been before it, — or 
rather of the record made by the clerk as such, and 
in view, and in review of what has transpired in 
this Quarterly and Yearly Meeting, relating to the 



EXPOSITION. 



113 



affairs of Society for the past two years, I believe it 
will be right for me to say something by way of 
declaration of my innocency, and the innocency of 
those friends with whom it has been my privilege to 
act, touching the affairs of Society ; reluctant as I 
feel, thus to allude to acts of my own, either sepa- 
rately or in connection with my friends, but this at 
present seems to be all that is left for us ; and I feel 
the obligation to perform this duty to be the more 
imperious in consequence of what has been so often 
said of us. — I w^ill not say abroad, behind our backs, 
in the many unfounded reports that had gone out 
against us from one end of the land to the other, 
arid from this side the Atlantic to the other, but it is 
well known tomostwdthin the hearing of my voice, 
that we had been repeatedly spoken of in our meet- 
ings for discipline as being insubordinate, as being 
disorderly, as being disturbers of the peace of the 
church, as having no interest in Society, and de- 
serving none of its privileges, as caring for nothing 
but to pull down and destroy. These are some of 
the epithets which have been applied to us un- 
sparingly by those who occupy the high seats. I 
have often thought we were treated either as though 
we had no feelings or as though our feelings, and 
our rights too, might be trampled upon with impu- 
nity ; but permit me to tell you, friends, that we have 
feelings as w^ell as you, and how often those feelings 
have been wounded, how often our hearts have bled 
when those severe and unkind accusations have 
been made agamst us, is know^n only to Him w^ho 
sees the secrets of every heart. And let no one 
think that we have taken the ground we have from 
a love of controversy, or for the gratification of our 
own w^ills and inclinations ; neither have we taken 
it inconsiderately or rashly, for I can truly say, 
(and what I now say I am aware that I say not only 
in the presence of the friends assembled, but in the 
presence of Him before whom I expect to render 



114 



NARRATIVE AND 



my final account of all these things at a Tribunal 
higher than those of earth, and beyond the bounds of 
time — a tribunal towards which w^e are all rapidly 
hastening, and before w4iich every one of us must 
soon appear.) I say then, that a consideration of 
these things has occupied the attention of my mind 
in deep solicitude and anxious thought beyond all 
other subjects combined, and that not only when 
assembled for the purpose of transacting the affairs 
of Society, but when my hands have been engaged 
in my lawful and daily avocations, and oft when my 
head has been resting on my pillow in the silence of 
the night, have I meditated on these things, and re- 
viewed in the most serious manner the course which 
I have pursued, nor have I ever been able to see 
that I could pursue any other ; not that I have never 
erred in word or act, for this I am aware that I may 
have done, but if so, I have the satisfaction of know- 
ing that it was not wilful error ; and that the Searcher 
of all hearts knows the sincerity of mine when I 
say, that I have desired that I might do nothing to 
injure the cause of truth. And I feel further to say, 
that had I assented either directly or indirectly to 
the course pursued by the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, for effecting their favorite purpose in South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting, I did believe, and I do 
believe, that I should have been verily guilty, and 
that my peace would have departed from me, but 
now I rejoice to say, that in these respects it remains 
with me. Ah, friends, for peace of mind — peace of 
mind the reward of conscious innocence and faith- 
fulness. — This in the language of a pious writer is 
the pearl of great price w^hich rich men cannot buy, 
which learning is oft times too proud to gather up, 
but which the poor and despised of all, sometimes 
seek and obtain ; yea, and it is with me to add, and 
which the oppressor in the might of his power, what- 
ever else he may do, cannot prevent their receiving, 



EXPOSITION. 



115 



and when received, cannot take it from them* 
Thanks be to the Father of Mercies that it is so." 

Soon after, this friend sat down the meeting closed. 

At the time of the Quarterly Meeting at Green- 
wich, in the fifth month, 1844 — E. F. was visited by 
the overseers of Greenwich Monthly Meeting, and 
taken under dealing, on account of these remarks — 
and was afterwards disowned therefor. 

In the treatment of the Committee of Greenwich 
Monthly Meeting with him, they strongly contend- 
ed that he had accused those who occupy the high 
seats with spreading unfounded reports against 
himself and his friends from one end of the land to 
the other, &c. And when he gave them the sub- 
stance of what he did say in writing, as now pub- 
lished,* they still maintained that it would bear that 
construction ! With what justice and for what pur- 
pose the reader may be left to judge. 

That those alluded to had accused him and those 
acting with him as stated, with being insubordinate, 
disorderly, disturbers of the peace, &c. — they did 
not pretend to gainsay — for it could be easily cor- 
roborated by many witnesses. 

At the Quarterly Meeting in the 5th month, 1844, 
the committee in the case of T. P. N. reported in 
confirmation of the judgment of the Monthly Meet- 
ing, which being adopted, he informed the Quarterly 
Meeting that he should appeal to the Yearly Meet- 
ing, and a committee was appointed to represent 
the Quarter therein. 



* The foregoing remarks in the Quarterly Meeting were commit- 
ted to writing immediately after the meeting, by the Friend who 
made them, from an apprehension, that a wrong version of what 
was said might be given and insisted on ; as had been previously 
done in some other cases, which apprehension the sequel justified. 
They were submitted to the examination of other Friends who were 
present, and are believed to be substantially correct, and nearly in 
the words spoken. 



116 



NARRATIVE AND 



At New England Yearly Meeting, held on Rhode 
Island, 6th month, 1844, the account from Rhode 
Island Quarterly Meeting brought to view the ap- 
peals of John Wilbur and T. P. N. against the con- 
clusion of that meeting in confirming the judgment 
of Greenwich and Rhode Island Monthly Meetings 
in disowning them. A committee of twenty-one 
-was appointed, to which both these cases were re- 
ferred. In the appointment of this committee, the 
meeting decided that members of the Standing 
Committee of the Yearly Meeting, who had hereto- 
fore been engaged in the case of J. W. — and those 
Friends who constituted the committee appointed 
last year, on the appeal of South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, (the two cases being nearly similar) should 
be excluded. It was further proposed that those 
who had openly expressed themselves opposed to the 
p7^oceedings of the Yearly Meeting should also be ex^ 
eluded. 

To this proposition it was objected, that it would 
be making an improper distinction, inasmuch as in 
a case of so much importance and interest, it was 
probable that most of the members had expressed 
themselves either for or against — and if those of one 
class were to be excluded, those of the other should 
be also ; and further, it was feared that this course 
might tend to trammel the committee. The meeting, 
however, decided in favor of the proposition, and 
when a name was offered, supposed to be of the 
class alluded to therein, it was rejected. 

The right was asked for the appellants to be pre- 
sent and object to a portion of the committee, should 
they desire it, in conformity with the discipline and 
usages of the society. This gave rise to consider- 
able discussion, and views of an opposite character 
were expressed. The clerk said that in our disci- 
pline, under the head of Appeals, nothing is said of 
this right, but under the head of Defamation and 
Detraction, the right is allowed, provided it do not 



EXPOSITION, 



117 



extend to the major part of the committee. He said 

if we should turn from our own discipline to those 
of other Yearly Meetings, we should find different 
provisions in regard to the right of objection. 

To this it was rephed, that the decision of the 
Yearly Meeting last year, in the case of the appeal 
of South Kingston Monthly Meeting, was undoubt- 
edly correct, that we must he governed by our own 
discipline, and further that the clerk stated last year 
that in cases of Defamation and Detraction the right 
of objection is allowed by the discipline, and that 
it had been the usage in all other cases ; and that one 
of the principal charges against J. W. is detraction. 

The meeting finally decided that the appellants 
might state their objections, if they desired, and the 
meeting would take them into consideration, and 
decide on their validity. This was objected to on 
the ground that it Vv'ould render the right of no 
value, and that there was neither discipline nor 
usage for it. 

The appellants were separately called into the 
meeting, and the privilege of objecting proffered to 
them under this restriction. It was declined by 
both. J. W. requested to be allowed some one to 
assist liim before the comniittee, as from his age and 
infirmxity it would be a hard task for him to per- 
form the necessary labor. Many expressed them- 
selves in favor of granting this request, but the 
meeting decided against it. 

The committee having completed the investiga- 
tion of these cases, reported in favor of confirming 
the judgment of the Quarterly Meeting in both ; 
one of their number declining to sign the report in 
the case of J. W. 

The reports were adopted by the meeting. 

John Wilbur, desiring to be present to hear the 
report of the committee in his case, and conclusion 
of the meeting, was called in, and they were read 
in his hearing. After sitting a short time in silence, 



118 



NARRATIVE AND 



he rose, and remarked in substance, that however 
unjust he believed the decision to be, yet he should 
entertain no hardness against any concerned in the 
proceedings against him : that it was his desire that 
none of our members should depart from the an- 
cient principles or testimonies of the society, nor 
suffer any innovation upon them ; these had been 
dear to him from his youth up, and were still dear 
to him : — he then withdrew. 

The subject of more clearly defining and explain- 
ing the discipline, in regard to the rights of individ- 
uals and meetings, — the proper subordination of in- 
ferior meetings, — the mode of proceeding in the 
execution of the discipline, &:c., was taken into 
consideration by the meeting, and resulted in refer- 
ring the subject to the Meeting for Sufferings, with 
instructions for them to make such explanations^ 
alterations, and additions, as shall meet the concern 
of the Yearly Meeting, and report next year. 

Returning minutes for the ministers from other 
Yearly Meetings, were prepared and adopted for 
those in attendance, with the exception of one min- 
ister from Ohio Yearly Meeting, — for whom none 
was prepared. 

(The certificate of this beloved and faithful gos- 
pel minister, embraced a prospect of further reli- 
gious service within our limits ; — but he was visited 
by a deputation from the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, who informed him he could not travel here, 
unless he would unite with their proceedings, and 
refrain from associating with those known to be 
dissatisfied therewith ; and advised him to return 
without accomphshing his prospect !) 



EXPOSITION. 



119 



MONTHLY meeting's APPEAL. 

Some account of the Proceedings of the Committee 
of the Yearly Meeting on the Appeal, 

The Committee of the New England Yearly 
Meetmg on the Appeal of South Kmgston Monthly 
Meeting, met at Newport, 3d day, 13th of 6th 
month, 1843, and appointed John Milton Earle their 
clerk — and notified the parties that they would 
meet 4th day morning to hear the case. 

Fourth day m.orning, committee m.et — and the 
parties were present. Perez Peck, of the Quarterly 
Meeting's Committee, said there was a person pre- 
sent who was not a member of society, and that 
they should object to any such sitting. Some one 
said there appeared to be several members from 
South Kingston there, who were not of the com.mit- 
tee, and thought they ought not to be allowed to be 
present. Perez Peck continued to object to John 
Wilbur upon the ground that he was not a member 
of society. The clerk said he thought it would be 
proper first to decide whether any except members 
of the committees should be present. He said he 
had been enquired of, whether any besides the par- 
ties immediately interested could be present — 
whether the strangers now attending the Yearly 
Meeting could be admitted. He had been unable 
to give a decided answer to these enquiries — but 
his own opinion was, that it would not be proper. 
Several of the Committee from South Kingston re- 
marked that they wei^e not aware that any not of the 
committee contemplated attending — and thought as 
there was objection to it, they would be willing to 
withdraw ; and they did so accordingly. 

The propriety of J. Wilbur's sitting was now 
further discussed — South Kingston Friends taking 
the ground that this was not a question proper to 



120 



NARRATIVE AXD 



be raised here — that J. W. came before tliis com- 
mitte with as good credentials as any of the others, 
and they had no right to go back of these to look 
for objections. It is claimed that the Quarterly 
Meeting had placed J. W. under dealing, at the 
same time they dissolved South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, — that Greenwich IMonthly Meetinof have 
since disowned liim, and that this disqualifies him 
from appearing here on behalf of ihe Monthly Meet- 
ing, as an appellant — upon the same principle all 
the other members of the committee on the appeal 
might have been diso\\Tied, and thus the right of ap- 
peal, secured by discipline, would be defeated alto- 
gether — besides, this appeal is against the action of 
the Quarterly Meeting annulling our records, and 
thus placing one of our members under dealing who 
had been acquitted by his o^vn Monthly Meeting, 
and for which proceeding no discipline could be 
produced — that J. Wilburs interest in tliis question 
was perhaps greater than that of any one besides — 
that all the proceedings in his case were involved in 
this of the 3Ionthly ^Meeting, and surely he could 
not be debarred from appearing here as an appel- 
lant. The Quarterly Meeting's Committee took the 
ground that the decision of the Quarterly Meeting 
must be binding until it was reversed by the Year- 
ly Meeting. Having heard the parties on this 
question — the committee requested them to with* 
draw while they came to a conclusion thereon. Af- 
ter being by themselves for upwards of an hour, 
the committee called the parties in, and the clerk 
stated that they decided at present to allow all to 
sit who appeared by the record to be of the com- 
mittee. But if the Quarterly Meeting's Committee 
were still dissatisfied, and wished to raise the ques- 
tion again, they could have the privilege of intro- 
ducing further proof from the records, of this 
Friend's disqualification. The appeal was now 
read, and the appellants were then asked to pro- 



EXPOSITION, 



121 



ceed — when a member of the committee, on behalf 
of the Monthly Meeting, commented upon the great 
hnportance of the case, and the necessity of being 
governed by the discipHne in its decision. He had 
understood the Yearly Meeting to have very fully 
instructed the committee to that effect. He then 
stated the order in which w^e proposed to proceed, 
beginning with a history of the proceedings which 
had taken place in South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
ing, including the conduct of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committecj &c. This was objected to by the 
Quarterly Meeting's Committee, and the clerk said 
he did not see what relation these matters had to 
the case ; if it could be proved that the Yeai'ly 
Meeting's Committee had done wrong, it would not 
show that the proceedings of the Quarterly Meeting 
had been in violation of the discipline ; it seemed to 
him proper that the investigation should be confined 
to the evidence of the violation of the discipline, as 
claimed in the appeal. It was replied, that the 
Monthly Meeting appealed against the dissolution 
as not warranted by any of its proceedings, as well 
as against the manner of it. That the Monthly 
Meeting was charged with disorder, insubordina- 
tion and want of unity, and these w^ere claimed to 
justify the dissolution. They therefore claim.ed the 
right to show what the Monthly Meeting had done, 
as well as the proceedings of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee therein, upon whose complaint the Quar- 
terly Meeting had taken the matter up — and be- 
sides that, such a statement of facts as we proposed 
to make, in the order of time as they transpired, was 
best calculated to give the committee a correct 
idea of the case, and they would be much better 
prepared to comprehend and appreciate, w^hatever 
might be afterwards said in relation to it. 

It was a mere statement of facts, what w^as said 
and done, without comment — and if any thing there- 
in was claimed to be incorrect by the Quarterly 

i5 



122 



NARRATIVE AND 



Meetings Committee, -we wished them to note it 
down as the reading progressed, and for which 
time would be allowed — and at the close we would 
take up all such contested points, and canvass them, 
and if necessary introduce proof thereon. That 
they should remark fully upon the violation of the 
discipline, in the course of the investigation, but they 
deemed it important that the committee should first 
have a history of previous proceedings in the 
Monthly Meeting, and Rhode Island Quarterly 
Meeting, which had led to it. The clerk of the 
committee said he thought this course might be 
proper, in order to show that the dissolution of the 
Monthly Meeting was not warranted (in the lan- 
guage of the appeal) by any proceedings of theirs. 

The Quarterly Meeting's Committee said if this 
was allowed, they should not be willing any state- 
ment should be made of what took place previous to 
the appointment of the committee by the Quarterly 
Meeting in the 8th month to attend South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, for they only represented the 
Quarterly Meeting, and that meeting had nothing to 
do with the case previous to that time. It was re- 
plied that the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, in 
their written advice to South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, had condemned its proceedings as far 
back as the 5th month, and the Quarterly Meeting 
itself had undertaken to annul and make void those 
proceedings — and besides, the Quarterly Meeting 
had taken the case up upon the report and complaint 
of the Yearly Meeting's Committee, and therefore 
the right was claimed to investigate the doings of 
that committee. Perez Peck, on behalf of the Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committee, said if this was to be al- 
lowed, they should claim the privilege of having J. 
Osborne, the clerk of the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee, present, to correct any misstatements made re- 
specting them. He had full minutes of their pro- 
ceedings, and they wished to show what the opinion 



EXPOSITION. 



123 



of the Yearly Meeting's Committee was, respect- 
ing that Monthly Meeting. A member of the Month- 
ly Meeting's Committee said he trusted the opinions 
of the Yearly Meeting's Committee would not be 
received as evidence before this committee ; if any 
facts were brought forward, they would no doubt 
be allowed their weight, but with the opinions of 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee we had nothing to 
do. Some one of the Committee of South Kingston 
said there were at least two members of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, on this Committee of the 
Quarterly Meeting, (Perez Peck and Allen Wing,) 
who were among those who had visited South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting, and they could no doubt 
see that no injustice was done to that committee. 
These members of the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
said they did not appear there in the capacity of a 
Yearly Meeting's Committee — they were there only 
to represent the Quarterly Meeting. The Commit- 
tee of South Kingston Monthly Meeting declared 
their willingness to have J. Osborne present, if it 
was wished; expressing their desire to have the 
fullest investigation. This being decided on, the 
committee adjourned to meet in the afternoon. 4th 
day, P. M., committee again met, John Osborne be- 
ing present, when the Quarterly Meeting's Commit- 
tee produced the records of South Kingston Month- 
ly Meeting, and extracts from the minutes of the 
Quarterly Meeting, and also of Greenwich Monthly 
Meeting, to show that J. W. had been complained 
of by the Yearly Meeting's Committee, and that al- 
though acquitted by South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
ing, the Quarterly Meeting had annulled the pro- 
ceedings by which it was done, and laid down that 
Monthly Meeting, and that Greenwich Monthly 
Meeting had since disowned him, upon the original 
complaint, and the report of two of the committee 
appointed in the 4th month, which only was recog- 
nized as valid — that the other members of the com- 



124 



NARRATIVE AND 



mittee declined to meet with them, and that John 
Wilbur, though requested to meet them, had not 
done so, &c. At the close of the reading of these 
documents, J. W. said he felt called upon to notice 
a misstatement contained in the minutes of Green- 
wich Monthly Meeting : — it was there stated that 
he had been requested to meet with those two 
members of the committee who had reported against 
him. This was not so, they did not ask him to meet 
them, he had the letter now which they wrote him, 
which would show the contrary. The whole of 
this sitting was occupied in the discussion of the 
question of J. W.'s sitting, but nothing new either of 
fact or argument was elicited. At the close of the 
sitting, the committee were for a short time by 
themselves in consultation, and then adjourned to 
meet again in the evening. On coming together 
again the clerk of the committee informed tlie ap- 
pellants that they might proceed with the case, and 
being about to do so, Perez Peck interrupted them, 
saying they had not yet had a decision on the ques- 
tion discussed at the previous sitting. The clerk 
replied that they had concluded to allow J. W. to 
sit, if he chose to do so. Perez Peck said, that be- 
ing the case, he must request an adjournment until 
next morning, in order to consult other members of 
the Quarterly Meeting — as he was sure they would 
not be satisfied to proceed under this decision. The 
clerk said that he hoped this question would not 
have been further urged by the Quarterly Meet- 
ing's Committee, as it seemed to him to be unimpor- 
tant. The presence of this Friend could do no 
harm — and as to precedent, (about which much had 
been said by the Quarterly Meeting's Committee,) 
it was not probable a like case would soon if ever 
occur — and no minutes of the trial would be kept. 
Stephen Jones, jr., one of the committee on the ap- 
peal, said, " that he was sorry that the Quarterly 
Meeting's Committee should continue to press this 



EXPOSITION, 



125 



matter in the manner they did, and thus consume 
the time, which ought to be occupied in investiga- 
ting the merits of the case, — he had hoped all would 
acquiesce in the decision of the committee, and we 
might proceed at once to the merits of the case, — if 
time was thus to be taken up, in settling preliminary 
and unimportant questions, there would not be time 
to go through with the investigation without detain- 
ing the Yearly Meeting. Several of the Quarterly 
Meeting's Committee had said that individually 
they cared little about this question, but only ob- 
jected on account of precedent. He said he did not 
apprehend much from this, as it was hardly proba- 
ble another case like this would happen in the life- 
time of any of us, and as no record of this matter 
would be kept, he did not think future generations 
would be much troubled by our decision of this 
question." One of the Monthly Meeting's Commit- 
tee said that they were very desirous to proceed 
with the case — that much time would be necessary 
to a full hearing of it. One whole day had now 
been consumed with this question, and they feared 
others would arise which would defeat our having 
a fair hearing — that the Committees of the Quarter- 
terly and Yearly Meetings, had often urged upon 
us the duty of subordination to superior bodies, and 
by their own rule they were now bound to acquiesce, 
especially as it was not a very important question. 
If, however, we could be assured that we should 
have an opportunity for a full and patient hearing, 
we had no disposition to oppose any indulgence to 
the Quarterly Meeting's Committee which the com- 
mittee on the appeal were disposed to grant. W. 
A. Robinson said he understood the clerk to say the 
decision of the committee was, J. W. might sit, " if 
he chose to" — he wished he would state, whether, 
the decision was that he had a right to sit, or that 
he might do so as a matter of indulgence. The 
clerk made no reply to the question. Arnold Cong- 



126 



NARRATIVE AND 



don said he hoped the committee would adjourn, it 
was much more important that this case should be 
decided right, than the time when ; it would be better 
even to allow it to go to another Yearly Meeting, than 
any thing wrong should be done. One of the Month- 
ly fleeting Committee, said that w^ould be a very 
great wrong — it would be injustice to the Monthly 
Meeting, and subject them to very great inconve- 
nience, and it was hardly to be expected that this 
committee of twenty men would all meet here aorain 
next year. W. A. Robinson said he did not wish 
to press his question, but as he thought an answer 
to it misrht settle this difficulty, he would like to have 
the clerk say whether the committee intended to 
decide that J. W. had a right to sit, or was allowed 
to as an indulgence granted him. The clerk replied 
that he did not know as he had any other answer 
to give, than what he had already given as the de- 
cision of the committee. Tobias Meader, one of the 
committee, said he considered it merely as an in- 
dulgence, and so said one or two more. Another 
of the committee said he did not consider there had 
been any decision come to, the last time they had 
taken it up — others made explanations of their 
views, &c. One of the Monthly Meeting's Com- 
mittee said we could have no other means of ascer- 
taining what was the decision of the committee than 
what was given by its clerk as such. The clerk had 
-stated w^hat was the decision of the committee. We 
of course considered him the organ of the commit- 
tee. The clerk said he did not intend to have done 
more than he had in giving the decision of the com- 
mittee, he thought that sulficient — but as the view^s 
of different members of the committee had been so 
much expressed, he now felt it proper to state that 
the committee appeared to come to the conclusion 
they did with various views, — perhaps no three or 
four of them would agree as to the reasons for it; 



EXPOSITION. 



127 



but the decision he had stated was agreed upon, 
and he believed he had given it correctly. 

Several of the committee said, as the Quarterly- 
Meeting's Committee wished an adjournment, they 
thought it best to adjourn. Stephen Jones, senior, 
asked whether John Wilbur would not, for the sake 
of accommodation, be willing to waive his right, and 
withdraw ; he had said in the morning that he did 
not regard his presence of much importance to the 
management of the case. The clerk said if the 
committee adjourned now, they would be obliged 
to sit while the Yearly Meeting was sitting, or else 
the Yearly Meeting must be detained. He was 
now satisfied that this case was of such importance 
as to justify them in making all other engagements 
subordinate to it. He should be sorry to lose any 
of the sittings of the Yearly Meeting, and he had 
hoped he should not be obliged to — -but he was in 
favor of taking time to hear this case. Several of 
the committee united in this view, and it was agreed 
to meet to-morrow, 5th day morning, at half-past 
10 o'clock. — (There being a select meeting at an 
earlier hour, and some of the committee members. 
The committee also concluded to ask leave of the 
Yearly Meeting to sit during the sittings of the 
meeting — several of the members of the committee 
being representatives.) 

5th day morning, again met— John Wilbur not 
present, having concluded to attend the public 
meeting. The clerk requested the appellants to 
proceed with the case. And they commenced read- 
ing a statement of facts, embracing the substance of 
what was said and done in South Kingston Month- 
ly Meeting, and Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, 
having relation to this case, from the 4th month to 
the 11th inclusive, 1842, and also some portion of 
the minutes of the committee in the case of J. Wil- 
bur ; all given in the order of time as they occurred. 
At this sitting the reading w^as proceeded with as 



128 



NARRATIVE AND 



far as the Monthly Meeting in the 8th month. When 
that part was read relative to the attempt of R. 
and T. A., prematm^ely to break up the meeting at 
Hopkinton in the 8th month, Perez Peck said he 
"wanted it to be understood that those Friends did 
not acknowledge that. The Monthly Meeting's 
Committee replied, they were willing to admit they 
did not, but that matter would be gone into at the 
proper time — that they had full proof of it. The 
committee adjourned to meet at 2 o'clock, P. M. 

The reading was resumed and concluded at this 
sitting, after which the appellants laid down twelve 
principal positions which they intended to establish, 
and upon which they should rest their case. These 
were reduced to writing, and at the request of the 
clerk afterwards placed in his hands. The commit- 
tee then adjourned to meet again at the rising of the 
P. M. sitting of the Yearly Meeting. 

5 o'clock, P. M., again met. The appellants said 
they were now through with their statements of 
facts, and supposed the regular order of proceeding 
would be for the Quarterly Meeting's Committee to 
go forward with their part of the case, and when 
they were through, for the Monthly Meeting's Com- 
mittee to make their closing plea. Perez Peck ob- 
jected, saying that courts of law made use of these 
terms, of opening and closing, &c., he hoped they 
would not be introduced here. They should want 
the privilege of replying to the Monthly Meeting's 
Committee. The clerk said that he supposed the 
next thing in order would be for the Quarterly 
Meeting's Committee to say how far they were 
wilhng to admit the statement of facts as given by 
the appellants to be true. 

The Quarterly Meeting's Committee raised no 
specific objections to the statement of facts, but J» 
Metcalf said he supposed there were several things 
they should not exactly admit — he thought some 
things were represented in a different light from 



EXPOSITION. 



129 



what they should be — that a coloring was given 
them calculated to produce wrong impressions. 
The Quarterly Meeting's Committee now com- 
menced by calling upon John Osborne to read his 
minutes of the proceedings of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, and of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, relating thereto. These minutes con- 
tained few specific accusations, and none against 
the meeting, as such, other than it did not accede 
to the advice of the Yearly and Quarterly Meet- 
ing's Committees. A few expressions of individual 
members were brought forward as evidence of the 
bad condition of the meeting, and many assertions 
unsupported by any proof, of the turbulence and 
confusion of the meetings in the transaction of the 
business, laboring to lower the character and stand- 
ing of the members, representing them as destitute 
of religious weight of character, &c. But said that 
amid these scenes of turbulence and excitement, the 
committee could but notice with satisfaction the 
quiet conduct and orderly deportment of that por- 
tion of the members who disapproved of the proceed- 
ings of the meeting, aflfording evidence that the true 
seed there was by no means extinct^ though under op- 
pression ! 

During the reading, some of the Monthly Meet- 
ing's Committee took notes of such passages as they 
thought would require notice, which at a subse- 
quent sitting were commented on at some length. 
The committee adjourned to meet again at 8 o'clock 
in the evening. On coming together, Arnold Cong- 
don commenced by commenting on the authority 
and powers of the Yearly Meeting's Committee. He 
said every conclusion of the Yearly Meeting is dis- 
cipline, just as much so as if it was printed in the 
book. To illustrate his meaning he referred to the 
document on doctrines read the day before, where 
it is said that those wanting religious weight of cha- 
racter, ought not to direct in meetings for discipline. 

6# 



130 



NARRATIVE AND 



He said that was now discipline, and as binding as 
any former discipline, — that the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee being appointed directly by the Yearly 
Meeting, any advice coming from them had all the 
authority of discipline. He then undertook to ex- 
plain the discipline relative to laying down a Month- 
ly Meeting. In reading this paragraph he strongly 
emphasised the words ought to submit^ saying that 
jyresent submission was the duty of the Monthly 
Meeting — they should conform to the judgment of 
the Quarterly Meeting, and then appeal. He then 
read the succeeding paragraph, saying, it gave the 
Quarterly Meeting the right either to dissolve the 
Monthly ]Meeting or to bring the matter before the 
Yearly Meeting, — and the Quarterly Meeting had 
concluded to dissolve the Monthly Meeting. He 
said that the next paragraph w^as involved in some 
obscurity, but he thought the Yearly JMeeting's 
Committee would understand it as they did. It pro- 
vides for the joining of the members to another 
Monthly Meeting, and requires the Quarterly Meet- 
ing to take care that no inconvenience thereby en- 
sue to them concerning any branch of our discipline. 
He said they had complied with this requirement, 
by annexing the members to another Monthly 
j\leeting. They then proposed to read from the 
discipline of Indiana and Baltimore Yearly Meet- 
ings. This was objected to by the Monthly Meet- 
ing's Committee, on the ground that the Yearly 
Meeting had decided that the case must be tried by 
the discipline of this Yearly Meeting, and the 
Yearly Meetings Committee decided against the 
reading. J. Metcalf said that what they wanted to 
read would show that the discipline of those Yearly 
Meetings gave superior meetings the right to annul 
records. They next proposed to read from Foster's 
Reports. This was objected to on the same ground 
as the former, and decided against by the commit- 
tee. A. Congdon then said, that what they proposed 



EXPOSITION* 



131 



to read was the testimony of Samuel Bettle, Thom- 
as Evans and Samuel Parsons, as to the general 
usage of the society. Perez Peck said that he had 
previously objected to the statement in regard to 
the attempt to break up the Monthly iVleeting at 
Hopkinton, as not being admitted by those Friends^ 
and if insisted on he should introduce evidence 
showing from what it originated. He said that one 
of those Friends took hold of the other's arm, and 
spoke to him on another subject, and this was un- 
doubtedly what was seen ; he did not think w^e 
meant to make a false statement. Two of the 
Monthly Meeting's Committee said that was not 
what they saw. They distinctly saw them shake 
hands, and were prepared to prove it by six credi- 
ble witnesses. P. Peck said he hoped we would 
waive this matter— the persons implicated were not 
present to defend themselves, &:c. Several of the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee also expressed a de- 
sire that we would waive it. J. M. Earle said he 
did not see that it had much bearing on the case if 
we did prove it. 

One of the Monthly Meeting's Committee said 
that having introduced it, if we should leave it so, it 
might be construed into an abandonment of the 
ground we had taken, and thus operate against ug. 
If left so, he wanted an admission from the commit- 
tee, that we vacated no ground we had taken, and 
that the omission to read the proof should not be 
allowed to militate against us. It was stated by 
another of the committee that they w^ere prepared 
to produce written testimony, proving most conclu- 
sively the fact as here charged ; — they were wil- 
ling, however, to leave the subject here, if there 
was objection to going further into it, but it must be 
distinctly understood that we have full proof of the 
facts stated, and are ready to produce it, Moses 
Farnum said he had no doubt but the committee of 
the Monthly Meeting had the testimony they said- 
they had. 



132 



NARRATIVE AND 



With this statement and admission the subject 
was left. The committee soon after adjourned. 

0th da}", morning, committee again met. The 
Quarterly Meeting's Committee proceeded. Perez 
Peck commented upon the Discipline relative to dis- 
solving Monthly Meetings, — said the first paragraph 
was not at all applicable to the case — that only re- 
lated to a case of difference in a Monthly Meeting ; 
this was a difference between the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee and a Monthly Meeting. In other re- 
spects he talked about it much as Arnold Congdon did. 

When the committee of South Kingston Month- 
ly Meeting were commenting upon the advice to 
several of the members of South Kingston Select 
Preparative Meeting, not to attend that meeting, 
Beriah Collins said, by way of explanation, that as 
John Wilbur had been restored against the advice 
of the Yearly and Quarterly Meeting's Committees, 
they had advised him not to attend the select Meet- 
ing. One of the Monthly Meeting's Committee en- 
quired of Beriah, whether they advised any others 
in the same manner, and if so, how many ? Beriah 
replied with apparent reluctance, that they did so 
advise all who supported John Wilbur. 

One of the Monthly Meeting's Committee now 
proceeded to comment on the power claimed for the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee, and to trace the con- 
sequences to which, if conceded by the Yearly 
Meeting, it must lead. He showed it would concen- 
trate all power in the hands of such committee, and 
that as their authority is thus made paramount to 
every thing else, all pretensions of a co-ordinate 
branch of the Society to move in the transaction of 
business under the guidance of the Head of the 
Church must be vain and futile, that the right of 
appeal would afford no protection to the appellant 
against injustice or abuse of power, for an individual 
appealing from the judgment of a Monthly Meeting 
acting under the control of such a committee, 



EXPOSITION. 



133 



would appeal to same body, at whose bidding he 
was disowned in the first instance. If it be ar- 
gued that such a committee, composed of minis- 
ters, and elders, &c., would do no wrong, he 
thought it w^ould savor rather too strongly of the 
Papal doctrine of the infallibility of the churchy 
with further remarks in illustration of these posi- 
tions. He then proceeded to review such portion 
of Jolm Osborne's minutes as had been noted du- 
ring the reading. Among other things he said 
he was surprised that J. Osborne should labor as 
he had done in those minutes, to give the impression 
to this committee, that three-fourths of the members 
of South Kingston Monthly Meeting are devoid of 
religious or even moral weight of character. But 
what evidence had he adduced to sustain his posi- 
tion? Surely nothing better than assertion. He 
maintained that general charges and broad asser- 
tions, unsupported by proof, ought to weigh nothing, 
and he trusted would weigh nothing with this com- 
mittee. That no charge had been brought against 
the Monthly Meeting save that it had refused to take 
the advice of the Yearly and Quarterly Meeting's 
Committees, (which had been answered) and very 
few specific charges against individual mem.bers, 
and those related only to improper expressions said 
to have been uttered by them in Monthly Meeting. 
He said a meeting could not justly be held respon- 
sible for the unguarded expressions of one or two of 
its members, that aside from a few expressions of 
two members of the South Kingston Monthly M eet- 
ing, he believed the remarks of those who sustained 
the course pursued by the Monthly Meeting were as 
free from excitement and no more objectionable 
than those of the Yearly Meeting's Committee. 
John Osborne in order to strengthen his position 
had highly extolled the small number in that Month- 
ly Meeting who sustained the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, representing them as the seed,&c. He 



134 



NARRATIVE AND 



said he could name from those who sustained the 
Monthly Meeting a larger number than the whole 
of these who would not only outweigh them in point 
of character, moral or religious, but whose charac- 
ters had not been and he trusted could not be im- 
peached, some of whom are now present, — does 
their deportment here bespeak for them the charac- 
ter which has been given them ? He left the com- 
mittee to decide this question. As to the minority 
who had been so highly eulogized, he was not dis- 
posed to do them the least injustice, but thought 
they would by no means bear the exalted character 
which had been awarded to them, for he believed it 
must be admitted by all who were acquainted in 
that Monthly Meeting, that some of them at least did 
not stand remarkably high for religious loeight of 
character. J. Osborne had spoken of the great im- 
probability of the clerk long remaining a member, 
giving it as a reason for advising the former clerk to 
retain the records; he was greatly surprised at the 
expression. What he had seen in Samuel Sheffield to 
lead him to such a conclusion, he knew not, his charac- 
ter as a man and as a Friend was above reproach, 
he w^as a Friend in principle, and had acknowledged 
it in the presence of the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee, and he was a consistent friend in practice, he 
was then present sustaining, by his deportment, (as 
he trusted) the character he had given him. Why 
then the Yearly Meeting's Committee should come 
to the conclusion that he would not long remain a 
member, he could not conceive, unless they designed 
to disown him, in the exercise of the high authority 
they had assumed. 

Another of the appellants followed with some ad- 
ditional remarks and strictures upon John Osborne's 
minutes. He remarked, in the first place, that in 
his view, the minutes of John Osborne were not cal- 
culated to give a correct impression of the state of 
things in South Kingston Monthly Meeting. A 



EXPOSITION. 



135 



stranger, he said, having no other means of informa- 
tion, would certainly get a very erroneous idea from 
them. These minutes were of a very general and 
indefinite character, specifying but little, whereas our 
statement gave an account of what was said and 
done, and furnished, he thought, a much clearer and 
more correct idea of the actual state of things. We 
had taken dow^n what could be recollected, and were 
of course most likely to recollect expressions of an 
improper character when they occurred, that we 
w^ere not disposed to say there had been none such — 
it would have been strange indeed if there had not 
been, considering all we had been obliged to pass 
through, but nothing of this kind had at all affected 
any of the decisions of the meeting. In our state- 
ment we had made no comment and expressed no 
opinions, while J. O.'s minutes are very much an 
expression of the opinions of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee. These minutes also gave a statement 
from T. C. Collins, of his opinion of the condition of 
the Monthly Meeting at the time the clerk was 
changed, and this is adopted by the Yearly Meet- 
ing's Committee. By this authority they say the 
clerk w^as not removed by the sound and weighty 
part of the meeting. He tells them that when he 
left the table, he declared it as his judgment, it was 
not the sense of the meeting that Samuel Sheffield 
should act as clerk. This he said was very improba- 
ble, it was not recollected by any of the Monthly 
Meeting's Committee, and he thought the fact of his 
leaving the table, was a sufficient refutation of it. If 
this was his judgment, then it v/as his duty to remain 
at the table ; why did he leave it ? Besides, it had 
been acknowledged here by one of the Quarterly 
Meeting's Committee, that T. C. Collins' excitement 
and confusion of mind was such that he scarcely 
knew what he did say at that time. J. M. Earle 
said, you have the fact of his leaving, which seems 
to me to be sufficient. 



136 



NARRATIVE AND 



The appellant continued : — the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee say of the Monthly Meeting's Commit- 
tee, in the case of J. W., that all their decisions 
were approved by him. If by this they mean to 
say there was any understanding between them and 
Jolni Wilbur about these decisions, we deny that it 
was so, for the committee in every instance came 
to its decisions without the presence or interference 
of any other person. If J. W. was satisfied with 
what we believed to be right, it was not our fault. 
These decisions are recorded, and will show for 
themselves whether they were unreasonable. The 
Yearly Meeting's Committee justify their refusal to 
allow J. W. to have any one with him, before the 
Monthly Meeting's Committee, by instancing the 
former example of a larger body of the same Com- 
mittee, who to the number of about thirty had an 
interview with him, and did not then allow any to 
be present, not even his wife. This was but an il- 
lustration of the great injustice which had been prac- 
ticed towards him. This committee can judge of 
the character of such an act. The Discipline of the 
Society provides that an accused person may have 
the privilege of taking one or two with him, and 
this right was then plead for by J. W., but denied. 

One of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee here 
said, that case did not come under this provision of 
the Discipline ; no disciplinary proceedings had 
then been had against J. W. It was replied, that 
in addition to the injustice of such denial, this only 
proves that the authority cited by the Yearly Meet- 
ing's Committee to justify them now, does not all 
apply, — for J. W. was before the committee of 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting, under disciplina- 
ry proceedings. It was also said that John Osborne 
in his minutes had given a version of the Monthly 
Meeting's Committee's decision, as to the matter 
which might be introduced by J. W. in his defence, 
which was very erroneous ; that decision was given 



EXPOSITION, 



137 



in writing and will show for itself. John Osborne 
was called upon again to read that portion of his 
minutes relating to this decision. He then read from 
his minutes, by which it appeared that the decision 
was to allow J. W. to introduce any matter havings 
in his opinion, any bearing on the case. 

The decision, as recorded, was read, which al- 
lowed John Wilbur " to introduce such evidence 
and documents on these subjects (doctrines) as 
shall appear essentially to relate to his defence.'' 
It was remarked this was very short of allowing 
him to introduce any matter he chose to ; this w^as 
but one instance of the incorrectness of those minutes ; 
in this case there can be no mistake, as the decision 
of the committee was at the time given in writing. 

It was stated in John Osborne's minutes, that at 
the time of the investigation of the case of J. W. at 
Hopkinton, one of the Monthly Meeting's Commit- 
tee rose, and pointing to the door, said to the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, " there is the door, you can 
go out or stay, as you please." An explanation 
was made by one of the Monthly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, of the circum.stances under which something 
like this was said, by one of the committee. At the 
time referred to, the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
had for the third time threatened to leave the investi- 
gation, unless the course pointed out by them w^as 
pursued. In the first instance, after submitting to 
the Monthly Meeting's Committee, w^hether J. W. 
should have assistance, and it was decided without 
a dissenting voice, that he might, they said, unless 
this decision was reversed they should leave. Al- 
though the committee could not do this, yet J. 
consented to proceed without assistance ; after- 
wards, upon the introduction of a pamphlet he was 
charged with circulating, they again thi^eatened to ( 
leave if it was all read, instead of the extracts they 
produced ; yet it was read, and they did not leave. 
Afterwards J. W- proposed to enter upon his de- 



138 



NARRATIVE AND 



fence by introducing the matter of Doctrines, and 
they again threatened to leave if this w^as allowed. 
At this time it was that one of the committee used 
the expression alluded to. Several of the other 
members of the committee checked him, and ex- 
pressed regret that he should have so spoken ; and 
such an unguarded expression being condemned by 
the committee at the time, they cannot be held re- 
sponsible for it. 

In John Osborne's minutes mention is made of 
scenes of turbulence and confusion, clamor, &c. A 
member of the Monthly Meeting's Committee said 
he had never, at any time, witnessed so great a de- 
gree of excitement and violent feelings on the part 
of any members of the Monthly Meeting, as was 
exhibited by one of the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee on the occasion above referred to. 

The reading of the argument on the appeal, was 
then commenced by the Monthly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, m the early part of which was introduced an 
extract from R. Barclay, containing general re- 
marks on the administration of the Discipline, and 
going to show that the basis of good and right gov- 
ernment, is an adherence to the genuine doctrines 
of the Society. 

When the extract w^as about half read, Arnold 
Congdon said he thought the reading of this extract 
ought not to be allowed, as they had not been per- 
mitted to quote authorities beyond our own Disci- 
pline. It was replied, that this was not authority 
on which the Monthly Meeting relied to sustain 
their case, but general remarks on the administra- 
tion of the Discipline, thrown in as an introduction 
to their appeal ; but if the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee thought it improper, they would not read the 
residue. One or two others of the Monthly Meet- 
ing's Committee said they were willing to dispense 
with the remainder if it was thought best. The 
clerk said he had anticipated this objection, but 



EXPOSITION. 



139 



thought himself there was a distinction between re- 
ferring to authorities to substantiate particular posi- 
tions, and general remarks like these ; he thought, 
as the reading had continued thus far, it had better 
be concluded. Two or three others expressed 
themselves to the same effect. The reading then 
proceeded without further interruption, and con- 
cluded about 12 o'clock. 

Some remarks and explanations of minor impor- 
tance having been made, both parties here rested 
the case, and the committee adjourned to meet 
again at 2 o'clock, P. M., at which hour they met, 
and continued together until 1 o'clock, when, not 
being ready to report, and the Yearly Meeting hav- 
ing adjourned to meet at 8 o'clock seventh day, 
morning, the committee also adjourned to an earlier 
hour. 

At the gathering of the Yearly Meeting, 7th day 
morning, the committee being through, attended 
and presented two reports, one signed by thirteen 
of their number, in favor of confirming ; the other 
signed by six of them, in favor of reversing the 
judgment of the Quarterly Meeting. 

Two of the committee did not sign either report. 
That signed by the thirteen was adopted by the 
Yearly Meeting. 

APPEAL OF SOUTH KINGSTON MONTHLY MEETING. 

The following positions, which the Monthly Meet- 
ing's Committee proposed to established, were re- 
duced to writing at the request of the clerk of the 
committee on the Appeal, after the investigation 
commenced, and placed in his hands. 

It is proper here to state in addition to the follow^- 
ing argument in defence of the Monthly Meeting, 
there was read a statement embracing a particular 
account of what was said and done in the various 
meetings and Committees in relation to the case, 



140 



NARRATIVE AND 



and that whatever is not brought fo view in the ar- 
gument, was fully shown by the facts contained in 
that statement. 

(For the document of Appeal, signed by the 
clerk, and also by individual members, see preced- 
ing Narrative, page 93.) 

The appellants intend to establish the following 
positions : 

First, that in the manner of bringing and urging 
the complaint against John Wilbur by the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, in the 4th month, 1842, they 
disregarded the proper business and labor of over- 
seers and Preparative Meetings, as well as the plain 
order of proceedings laid down in our Discipline 
(founded upon the precepts of the Saviour) in re- 
gard to detraction, a prominent feature in that com- 
plaint, and very improperly threatened if the Month- 
ly Meeting did not comply with their requirement 
for immediate proceedings, to complain of it to the 
Quarterly Meeting. 

Second, that they interfered with the rights of the 
Monthly Meeting in the election of its officers, by 
attempting to remove its rightful clerk from the 
table, and to place another person there in his 
room. 

Third, that both the Yearly and Quarterly Meet- 
ing's Committees have interfered with our right of 
property, having withheld and even taken away 
from us our records before the Monthly Meeting 
was dissolved, or in any form compatible with the 
Discipline, deprived of any of its rightful authority. 

Fourth, that they, the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee, charged South Kingston Monthly Meeting with 
an intention to effect a separation in Society, with- 
out evidence and against the fact. 

Fifth, that they themselves gave their counte- 
nance and encouragement to the proposition of a 
disaffected member for a division in our Monthly 
Meeting. 



EXPOSITION. 



141 



Sixth, that two of the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee attempted to break up our Monthly Meeting in 
the 8th month, while the report in John Wilburs 
case was yet in the women's meeting, and other 
business remained upon the table ; that this w^as 
afterwards denied by them, but fully proved to be 
true. 

Seventh, that the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
attempted to dictate to a committee of the Monthly 
Meeting, the course of its proceedings in the inves- 
tigation of a case submitted to it by the Monthly 
Meeting, a case too, in which themselves were par- 
ties, and failing in this attempt they precipitately 
left, while the trial was still in progress, taking with 
them all the papers and documents which they had 
introduced to sustain their charges. 

Eighth, that the Quarterly Meeting's Committee 
assumed the right to cancel our proceedings and re- 
cords at pleasure, and to sit in judgment upon a 
case which the Yearly Meeting's Committee had 
brought to South Kingston Monthly Meeting for its 
decision, and which properly appertained to it alone 
in that stage of the proceedings. And they further 
ventured to attempt a division in our select meeting 
by advising one half of its members not to attend 
that meeting. 

Ninth, that the advice of the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee to the South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
ing in the 10th month, 1842, is absurd and improper, 
incompatible with the Discipline and the rights of 
the Monthly Meeting and individuals. 

Tenth, that the dissolution of the South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting is against the Discipline, and 
in violation of its plainest provisions, in the follow- 
mg particulars, viz : — 

1st. We have not received the judgment of the 
Quarterly Meeting in writing. 

2d. We have not been allowed the right of ap- 
peal against such judgment. 



NARRATIVE AXD 



3d. We have not been allowed the right of ap- 
peal against the dissolution, according to the due 
order of proceeding laid down in the Disciphne, be- 
fore the annexation of our members to another 
Monthly Meeting. 

4th. In that there is no Discipline to warrant the 
annulling of our records. 

Eleventh, That the Quarterly Meeting has de- 
hberately denied us all access to their records, in 
violation of om' rights, secured by Discipline, thus 
as far as possible denying us information important 
to us in conducting this appeal. — Even the minutes 
of the Quarterly Meeting, decreeing the dissolution 
of our Monthly Meeting, has been withheld from us. 

Twelith, that the proceedings against our ]Month- 
ly ^Meeting throughout, were not on the gi'ound al- 
leged, or for the reasons assigned, but the measures 
taken were for the purpose of disownins: John Wil- 
bur, and always directied to that object. 

Argument on the Appeal to the Yearly Meeting, 
sixth ?nonth, 184:3, (by the Committee thereon ap- 
pointed by South Kingston Monthly Meeting.) 

If order and Discipline were needful in the days 
of George Fox and liis cotemporaries, for the due 
administration of justice, and a correct managemi::: 
of the affairs of Truth, by rules and regulations, m- 
stituted, established and recorded, even in those 
purer days of the Society, when the Divine will, 
guidance and presence, were so remarkably known 
and witnessed among them, how much more essen- 
tial in this our day, under an obvious declension 
from the Life and Power and Wisdom with which 
they were endued, that the order and discipline 
which they introduced, not merely for their own 
times, but for the succeeding times, should be sus- 
tained and scrupulously regarded, seeing the habili- 
ty of a departure which might take place under a 



EXPOSITION. 



143 



lapsed condition of the church in after times ; the 
same as did occm- and fall upon the Christian Church 
in her early days ; to be as a hedge about her, lest 
the same might again befall her with whom the 
Lord was mindful to place his name to the latest 
generations. 

And inasmuch as the leaders of his people caus- 
ed them to err in the primitive church, by lording 
it over the heritage of God, making their ow^n wills 
and the authority with which they had vested 
themselves, the supreme law of the church, George 
Fox, from whose penetrating eye, things past, pre- 
sent or to come, relative to the church, could scarce- 
ly be concealed, who in order to avoid the like again, 
labored with great assiduity and zeal, and as we 
may well believe, under the dictates of best Wis- 
dom, to guard and fortify the church as much as 
might be, against the like as well as other depar- 
tures or infringements upon her Rights, her Doc- 
trines or her Discipline ; so that whosoever, whether 
among the leaders, or among the people at large, 
should unhappily be left to disregard, abuse or vio- 
late that system of order, whether in the spirit or in 
the letter of it, there should be plain and tangible 
rules agreed upon by all, directing the course to be 
taken, both in matters of the greater and smaller 
consequences. 

And Robert Barclay was not only a beholder of 
that admirable order of Discipline and church gov- 
ernment, suggested by George Fox, but a fellow- 
helper in its furtherance and ultimate establishment. 
In his treatise upon the subject he points out the 
ground of union, and prescribes a remedy for such 
defects as may occur in the body. The following 
is extracted from the first volume of his works, be- 
ginning on page 512. 

After speaking of the papists and others placing 
conscience in things that are absolutely wrong, goes 
on, " now say we, being gathered together into the 



144 



NARRATIVE AND 



belief of certain principles and doctrines without 
any constraint or wordly respect, but by the mere 
force of truth upon our understandhig, and its power 
and influence upon our hearts ; these principles and 
doctrines, and the practices necessarily dependmg 
upon them are, as it were, the terms that have 
drawn us together, and the bond by which we be- 
came centered into one body and fellowship, and 
distinguished from others. Now, if any one or more 
so engaged with us should arise to teach any other 
doctrine, or doctrines, contrary to these which are 
the grounds of our being one, who can deny but 
the body hath power in such a case to declare, this 
is not according to the truth we profess ; and there- 
fore we pronounce such and such doctrmes to be 
wrong, with which we cannot have unity ; nor yet 
any more spiritual fellowship with those that hold 
them : and so such cut themselves off from being 
members by dissolving the very bond by which 
they were linked to the body. Now, this cannot 
be accounted tyranny and oppression no more than 
in a civil society, if one of the society shall contra- 
dict one or more of the fundamental articles upon 
which the society was contracted, it cannot be reck- 
oned a breach or iniquity in the whole society to 
declare, that such contradictors have done wrong, 
and forfeited their right in that society ; in case, by 
the original constitution, the nature of the contra- 
diction implies such a forfeiture as usually it is, and 
will no doubt hold in religious matters. As if a body 
be gathered into one fellowship by the belief of 
certain principles, he that comes to believe other- 
wise naturally scattereth himself ; for that the 
cause that gathered him is taken away, and so 
those that abide constant in declaring the thing to 
be so as it is, and in looking upon him and witness- 
ing of him to others (if need be) to be such, as he 
has made himself, do him no injury. I shall make 
the supposition in the general, and let every people 



EXPOSITION, 145 

make the application to themselves, abstracting from 
us, and then let conscience and reason in every im- 
partial reader declare, whether or not it doth not 
hold ? Suppose a people really gathered unto the 
belief of the trae and certain principles of the gos- 
pel, if any of these people shall arise and contradict 
any of these fandaniental truths, Vvhether has not 
such as stand, good right to cast such an one out 
from among them, and to pronounce positively this 
is contrary to the truth we profess and own, and 
therefore ought to be resisted and not received^ nor 
yet he that asserts it as one of us ? And is not this 
ohligatGry upon all the members^ seeing all are con- 
cerned in the like care as to themselves to hold the 
right emd shut out the v.'rong ? I cannot tell if any 
man of reason can well deny this, however, I shall 
prove it next by the testimony of the Scriptures.'' 
[Here he extracts GaL 1:8. 1 Tmi. i: 19, 20. 
2 John 10.] And says, "These Scriptures are so 
plain and clear in themselves as to this purpose, 
that they need no great exposition to the unbiassed 
and unprejudiced reader, for seeing it is so, that in 
the true church there may men arise and speak per- 
verse things contrary to the doctrine and gospel al- 
ready received ; what is to be the place of those 
that hold the pure and ancient truth ? Must they 
look upon these perverse men still ?ts their brethren ? 
Must they cherish them as fellow-members, or must 
they judge, condemn and deny them ? We must 
not tliink the apostle wanted charity, who will ha.ve 
them^ accm'sed ; and that gave Hymanseus and 
Alexander over to satan after that they had de- 
parted from the true faith, that they might learn not 
to blaspheme. In short, if we must (as our oppo- 
sers herein acknowdedge) keep those that are coma 
to own the truth by the same means that they v\' ere 
gathered and brought into it ; we must not cease to 
. be plain with them and tell them when they are 
wrong; and by sound doctrine, both exhort and 

7 



146 MONTHLY meeting's 

convince gainsaycrs. If the apostles of Christ of 
old, and the preachers of the everlasting gospel in 
this day had told all people, how^ever wrong they 
found them in their faith and principles, our charity 
and love is such ice dare not judge you, nor separate 
from you ; hut let us all live in love together, and 
everyone enjoy his own opinion, andall will he well, 
how should the nations have been? Or W'hat w^ay 
now^ can they be brought to truth and righteousness ? 
Would not the devil love this doctrine well, by 
which darkness and ignorance, error and confusion, 
might still continue in the earth, unreproved and un- 
condenmed." Again, p. 554 : " That this infallible 
judgment is only and unalterably annexed and seat- 
ed in the power of God, not to any particular per- 
son or persons, meeting or assembly, by virtue of 
any settled ordination, office, place or station, that 
such may have, or have had in the church ; no man, 
men or meeting, standing or being invested w^ith 
any authority in the church of Christ upon other 
terms than so long as he or they abide in the living 
sense and unity of the life in their ow^n particu- 
lars," &c. 

And the ministration of these rules of Discipline 
w^hich those vvho have gone before us laid down, 
under the guidance and superintendency of His 
spirit, w^ho is the head of the church, is indeed one 
of the greatest outw^ard blessings that has been 
vouchsafed to her, all along from the early days 
of the Society of Friends to the present time. But 
however good and wholesome this discipline is to the 
body, yet if it should unhappily be wrested or per- 
verted from its original intention, by unskilful or 
unhallowed hands, it will scatter instead of gather- 
ing, it will Vv^ound instead of healing, it wall destroy 
mstead of restoring to life." 

The appeal which is now offered for the conside- 
ration and determination of the Yearly Meeting 
from South Kingston Monthly Meeting, probably 



APPEAL. 



147 



involves the deepest interest, and most important 
and serious consideration of any case that has ever 
occurred in the Society in New England ; without 
a precedent and without an example ; v/e trust, there- 
fore that the Yearly Meeting or its committee, will 
give it such patient and careful attention, as will 
be commensurate with its importance. And we 
think it proper to state in the first place, that we are 
not aware that South Kingston Monthly Meeting 
has violated our discipline during the course of its 
late proceedings, complained of by the committees, 
although as has heretofore happened in many meet- 
ings for discipline, in the discussion of subjects of 
an exciteable cast, undesirable expressions have es- 
caped some of those who have taken part therein ; 
so with us, in the late very important transactions, 
the manner of speaking has in a few" instances been 
undesirable, and which we regret, not effecting, 
however, any decision. But we now inform the 
committee on this appeal, that we feel ourselves ag- 
grieved, and our rights, (delegated to us by the 
Yearly Meeting,) as also the Discipline, to have 
been violated, as we shall make appear in the fol- 
lowing statement : First, by the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee ; second, by the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee, and third, by the Quarterly Meeting 
itself. 

1st. By the Yearly Meeting's Committee the 
rights of South Kingston Monthly Meeting and the 
order of our Disciplme were violated by their com- 
pelling said Monthly Meeting to act immediately 
upon their complaint against one of its members, 
without suffering it to go first to the overseers, and 
to come up to the Monthly Meeting through the 
Preparative Meeting, agreeable to all the order of 
disciplinary proceedings ; and at the same time 
threatened the Monthly Meeting, that if it did refer 
it to the overseers, and thus avoid immediate action 
upon it, by the appointment of a committee at that 



148 



MONTHLY meeting's 



time, that they would complain of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting to the Quarterly Meeting ; averr- 
ing that as they were appointed by the Yearly 
Meeting, they were clothed with the authority of 
the Yearly Meeting, and therefore had a right to 
make this requirement of the Monthly Meeting, the 
order of the society to the contrary notwithstanding, 
a power which we conceive the Yearly Meeting it- 
self has no right to exercise against its own order, 
and especially when the rights of meetings or in- 
dividuals are affected by it. Neither South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting nor any of its members felt 
a disposition to avoid a due examination of the case, 
thinking it quite time that the reproaches which the 
committee had been, in a manner, publicly heap- 
ing upon one of our members, should be wiped 
away, if without cause, and if with just cause, an 
early investigation was certainly needful — and the 
Monthly Meeting were desirous of no more delay 
than was requisite for regular proceedings, agree- 
able to Discipline and usages of the Society. 

2nd. The Yearly Meeting's Committee, soon af- 
ter our last Yearly Meeting, attended South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, and then and there made an ef- 
fort to remove our clerk from the table for the pur- 
pose of placing another person there, a measure 
which they proposed under the profession of restor- 
ing unity ; but they were told that the present clerk 
was chosen but the month before, by the expression 
of three-fourths of the meeting. And the commit- 
tee was also reminded, that it would seem to be a 
very singular way of restoring unity, (if wanting,) 
thus to remove a clerk who was appointed by three- 
fourths of the meeting ; to displease three-fourths 
of a meeting for the sake of pleasing one-fourth, 
upon the plea of restoring unity, would be contra- 
ry to the plainest dictates of reason. Moreover, 
for a committee of a superior meeting to attempt 
the removal of a good clerk from the table of a 



APPEAL. 



149 



subordinate meeting, in order to bring in one of their 
owQ choice, would be a precedent, if yielded to, 
tending to consequences destructive to the safety of 
society. This proposition being closely pressed by 
the committee, was considered by the Monthly 
Meeting too great a depredation upon their rights, 
to be acceded to, seeing that no good cause could 
be assigned for it. 

3rd. And a still greater depredation, upon both 
the rights and property of South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting was the frank acknowledgment of the com- 
mittee in that Monthly Meeting, that they had ad- 
vised the former clerk to withhold the books and 
papers from it. And whilst speaking of this proper- 
ty, we will mention, that a committee, subsequent- 
ly appointed by the Quarterly Meeting, not only 
gave the same advice to our former clerk, but ac- 
tually came themselves, and without our leave, took 
away our books and papers out of our limits, from a 
constituted and legally authorised body and branch 
of New England Yearly Meeting. And their plea 
for this outrage was, that they were afraid of a sepa- 
ration, but the sequel will show whether they and 
their adherents, or we, were readiest for, or most 
rightfully chargeable with an intention of a separa- 
tion, whereby the fallacy of such a plea will appear, 
unless indeed, they then intended themselves to bring 
it about. But suppose a man should conclude to 
dissolve fellowship with a society, or a community, 
does that conclusion vest that society, or that com- 
munity, with authority to seize on his property, and 
to take it from him without his knowledge or liber- 
ty? ! ! Can a man be found that will answer this 
question in the affirmative ? And can a man be 
found, who will say that any man, or body of men, 
without incurring both guilt and dishonor, can come 
into our enclosure and take away, without liberty, 
books that we had purchased with our money, and 
therein recorded our marriages and the births of 



150 



MONTHLY meeting's 



our children, and by such evidence established the 
certainty of those marriages, and consequently the 
legitimacy of our children I iSo ! nor have we any 
conception how any man, or body of men, scrupu- 
lous of regarding even moral integrity, can sanction 
such a procedure. 

At the same time they unjustly charged South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting with doing its business 
out of doors, which was not true, and therefore could 
not be proved. 

4th. At the close of the business in South Kings- 
ton Monthly Meeting in the 7th month last, W. S. 
P., one of the members, devoted to the Yearly Meet- 
ing's Committee, proposed that those who w^ere in 
unity w^ith the Yearly Meeting and its committee, 
and the proceedings of that committee, should re- 
main in the house, with which proposition T. C. C, 
another member in like circumstances, expressed 
unity, and proposed that the women should be in- 
formed of it. With which proposition the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee united, but a friend objected 
to the proposition as looking like a plan for separa- 
tion — he was opposed to any scheme for a separa- 
tion, and hoped the proposition would be rejected, 
and several other friends spoke to the same effect, 
approving of the stand that had been made against 
this extraordinary proposition, &c. ; and it was said, 
if we are about to commit ourselves, let it be to prin- 
ciples, and not to men. And another friend said, he 
was surprised at this attempt to draw lines of divi- 
sion among us by the introduction of this extraordi- 
nary test ; he considered it a very improper test, 
and one which he thought ought never to be appli- 
ed, — he could not conceal his surprise that the Year- 
ly Meeting's Committee, professing to come to re- 
store unity and harmony, should give this scheme 
the countenance they had done — he viewed the 
proposition as very objectionable, and hoped it 
w^ould not receive any encouragement from the 



APPEAL. 



151 



meeting. We were ready to say, that we had full 
unity with the well known principles of friends, and 
no more ought to be required. T. A., one of the 
committeej said that a man might be entirely sound 
m doctrine and yet be very far from being ui unity 
with the Yearly Meeting. 

And more fully to show, that both the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee and some of our members w^ho 
adhered to them, intended to bring about a separa- 
tion, we need but notice, in addition to the above, 
that when it was desired that the v/omen's meeting 
might be notified of the proposition^ some one said, 
that the women had risen. R. G., one of the Year- 
ly Meeting's Commiuee, replied, " they can easily 
be collected again.'^ The same Friend had previ- 
ously commended the proposition, bec?aise he said 
W. S. P. made it in so weighty a manner. And 
furthermore, durino; the discussion, when the orooo- 
sition was repeatedly spoken oi as a scheme for a 
separation^ the committee did not disclaim it as such^ 
nor make any attempt to clear themselves from 
such an intention. And moreover^ T. C. C. after- 
wards acknowledged, that his expectation was that 
the proposition would result in a separatiom And 
W. S. P., w^ho introduced the prv^position, on being 
asked if he anticipated that a separation would 
thereby be effected^ replied, " What use in remain- 
ing together when so much disunity exists V 

Here it seems necessary again to refer to their 
reason, the month before, for advising our former 
clerk to refuse our books and papers^ to wit, the ap- 
prehension of a separatio n. When this reason was 
rendered, the idea was eiitertained, that they sus- 
pected the three-fourthsj vvho thought best for Sam- 
uel Sheffield to be clerk, Vv'ould separate themselves 
from the one-fourth, w^ho favored T. C. C. for that 
service ; groundless was that apprehension, as in 
the sequel is abundantly proved. Little did we then 
think that their determination was such to choose 



152 



MONTHLY xMEETINg's 



a clerk to South Kingston Monthly Meeting, as to 
resort to such a measure as this ; to divide asunder 
a Monthly Meeting, and to take its property, and 
give it to such as they should succeed in drav^ing 
from it, although it might be but a fourth part. 
Than which, if greater disorder v^as ever practiced 
by a Committee of a Yearly Meeting, appointed to 
promote unity, or if greater abuse was ever inflicted 
upon a Monthly Meeting and its rights, we must say 
that we have never been made acquainted w^ith it. 

And our astonishment was greatly increased to 
see, that even after they had had some days to re- 
flect upon it, they should make complaint to the 
Quarterly Meeting the following w^eek, charging 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting with disorder, a 
want of unity, and insubordination ! ! As to disor- 
der, the committee w^e are now addressing w^ill be 
able, from the foregoing, to judge to whom the 
charge belongs. And as to unity ^ they w^ill see who 
it was that attempted a breach, so unlikely ever to 
be healed, if that attempt had been successful. And 
our insubordmation consisted in our standing for our 
rights which the discipline had dictated and guaran- 
teed to us as a Monthly Meeting, in choosing our 
officers. When the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
complained of South Kingston Monthly Meeting for 
disorder, insubordination, &c., no judgment, or de- 
cision of the case, which they brought, had been 
come to, it being yet in the hands of the committee 
unreported to the Monthly Meeting. 

5th. Divers overt acts of the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, manifest in their attempts to coerce 
John Wilbur and the Committee of our Monthly 
Meeting, when their case was on trial, to an unrea- 
sonable conformity to their wishes, are proper in 
this place to be noticed. They threatened to leave 
on several occasions : 1st. If the Monthly Meeting's 
Committee suffered J. W. to have any friend to as- 
sist him ; 2d. If they admitted his request, to have 



APPEAL. 



153 



read the anonymous pamphlet, which they accused 
him with spreading ; 3d. They threatened to leave 
if they allowed him the right of alluding to the doc- 
trines of the society in his defence before the com- 
mittee. And when the committee decided that he 
should be so heard, they did leave ; which was after 
they had stated the case, and plead on their part, 
taking with them their own complaint, and papers, 
including several which were essential for his exam- 
ination, in making his defence : and were reprehen- 
sible, as we think, (such of them as had offered 
themselves as witnesses in the case under investi- 
gation,) in refusing to answer questions that were 
propounded to them, such as in the judgment of the 
committee were proper in the case. 

In remarking upon the argument of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, that a recurrence to the doc* 
trines of Friends was irrelevant to the case, it is 
proper for us to state, that in their complaint they 
had charged one of our members with circulating a 
pamphlet which went to reproach our doctrines and 
tended to close up the way of a minister in this 
country with a certificate, and with writing and cir- 
culating letters which had the same tendency, now 
produced by themselves, which letters contained 
his remarks upon, and extracts from the printed 
doctrines of J. J. Gurney, the Friend alluded to. 
And John Wilbur made it appear that the first in- 
timation of the committee's uneasiness with him, was 
his writing letters to his friends ; and that those let- 
ters, as now brought and made to appear by the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee themselves, had little 
or no allusion to that author's personal character, but 
rested upon his doctrines. And J. W. did then and 
there ask for an opportunity of showing that the 
doctrines thus alluded to, were the root and ground 
of this difficulty ; and were so palpably at variance 
with the fundamental and well known doctrines of 
the society, as to warrant, and even to require, in 

7# 



154 



MONTHLY MEET1NG*S 



conformity with our discipline, his applying, in the 
first place to the author, and subsequently, as that 
labor proved ineflectual, to inform divers ministers 
and elders of his exercise relative to those objec- 
tionable doctrines. And J. W. did call on the com- 
mittee to prove that any proceedings of his, aside 
from his recurrence to, and exposure of, the doc- 
trines of J. J. Gurney, had any tendency to close 
up his way, whilst travelling in this country with a 
certificate, — as charged in the complaint, but 
without success. And it is too obvious to admit of 
dispute, that the Yearly Meeting's Committee did 
come forward in a defence and supjjort of J. J. G., 
as clearly proved by their own document of com- 
plaint against J. W., attested by their own signa- 
tures, — -hence they have thereby, as clearly identi- 
fied themselves with his doctrines as did the defend- 
ers of Elias Hicks identify themselves with his doc- 
trines ; and perhaps with about as much justice, 
claim to hold to our original principles ; unless they 
will yet redeem the time, and acquit themselves by 
a formal and designate condemnation of such of his 
sentiments as are at variance with the doctrines of 
Friends. Hence we can but see their unfairness, 
not to say equivocation, m refusing to hear the case 
argued in a doctrinal point of view. 

The Quarterly Meeting having appointed a com- 
mittee in the 8th month last, to join the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, and to render advice and as- 
sistance, <S::c., they attended our ensuing Monthly 
Meeting, when the report of our committee in the 
well known case was to be acted upon, and there 
claimed the right of being incorporated and embo- 
died, and declared that they were incorporated and 
embodied with the Monthly Meeting, in judging 
upon such matters as should come before it ; and 
even went further, and claimed the right and pre- 
rogative to dictate to the Monthly Meeting all its 
proceedings, and even to abolish its recorded acts 



APPEAL. 



155 



for months past. Bat South Kingston Montlily 
Meeting saw things differently, under an apprehen- 
sion that our discipline makes Monthly Meetings the 
sole judges of all complaints against tlieir own mem- 
bers, until appealed from to a superior meeting, and 
did not admit the assumption of the Committee of 
the Quarterly Meeting, as being thus incorporated 
and clothed with such powers, knowing of no dis- 
cipline, good reason, or former usage that would 
justify or sustain such an assumption ; and least of 
all, to abolish records of former proceedings. Fur- 
thermore, this Committee of the Quarterly Meeting 
for discipline assumed the right and authority of 
dictation to the meeting of ministers and elders, and 
exercised that right and authority, so far as to at- 
tempt to divide asunder the select preparative meet- 
ing of South Kingston, by gravely and earnestly 
advising one half of its members not to attend it. 

That suchc:>mm:ttees are and can be commission- 
ed to advise : . explain, will be agreed, but cannot 
be clothed wiih judiciary powers, in a subordmate 
meeting, because such, if attempted, would be an 
infraction upon the plain and practical provisions of 
our discipline, in the travel of cases from the lower 
to the higher tribunal, wisely ordained for the avoid- 
ing of all abuse or imposition, not only by us in our 
excellent order of church government, but also of 
the highest importance in the civil department of 
proceedings amongst men. 

Therefore, when such a committee has advised 
and explained, there its mission terminates. If such 
an interierence be proposed for adoption, in pointy 
purely judicial, or in the determination of alleged of- 
fences, we would say, better far to constitute one 
body the sole tribunal of all offences. And in con- 
cluding this paragraph, we would notice an assump- 
tion of the Yearly Meeting's Committee, viz., that 
the Quarterly Meeting had^isqualihed from acting, 
one of the committee appointed by South Kingston 



150 



MONTHLY MEETING^a 



JMonthly Meeting on its appeal, hy placing Mm un- 
der dealing ! But we would ask, whence does the 
Quarterly Meeting derive its authority for placing 
any member of Society under dealing ? If it can 
place one member of that committee, appointed to 
prosecute an appeal against its own acts, under 
dealing, and thereby disqualify him from attending 
to the duties of his appointment, then, forsooth, it 
can place every member of that committee under 
dealing, and thus, of their own power, foreclose an 
mvestigation of their own proceedings ! 

At South Kingston Monthly Meeting, held at 
Hopkinton, 10th month, 1842, a few of the Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committee attended, and presented 
a document of advice, purporting to have been 
drawn up at Hopkinton that morning, signed by 
four out of a committee of fifteeu, and will be found 
at page 

And the committee seemed disposed to call on 
the Monthly Meeting for immediate action on their 
advice. But inasmuch as they informed the meet- 
ing that all the committee had not seen it, as was 
indicated by the time and place of its execution, 
and inasmuch, too, as it contained things altogether 
new and unexampled, and of a serious and doubtful 
nature, involving in its consideration and decision, 
as might be, the very existence of the Monthly 
Meeting, it was therefore concluded to be referred, 
and the committee were informed that the meeting 
felt itself unequal, at once to decide upon questions 
of such magnitude without further consideration, 
and that it would therefore be referred for one 
month. 

This committee however reported to the Quarterly 
Meeting, (which occurred on the week following.) 
recommending a dissolution of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, and the annexation of its mem- 
bers to Greenwich Monthly Meeting* 



APPEAL. 



157 



Review of a document presented to South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting by Rhode Island Quarterly 
' Meeting^ s Committee, dated 10th month 24th^ 
1842, containing objections to the proceedings of 
said Monthly Meeting, ivhen held in the 5th and 
8th months preceding, with their advice and re- 
quirements that said Monthly Meeting should dis- 
annul and reverse divers of their transactions and 
conclusions therein.^' 

First, — They say, "that the placing of Samuel 
Sheffield at the table to act as clerk, was irregular 
and disorderly, and by which the feehngs and 
views of many of its members were wholly disre- 
garded." Replied to as follows : The number of 
those Friends whose feelings and views they say 
were wholly disregarded, was very small, at most 
ijot a fourth part of those who spoke to the case. 
And would it most harmonize with the committee's 
views, in relation to regularity and order, for the 
feelings and views of three-fourths of a meeting (and 
that number containing the most weighty Friends,) 
to be wholly disregarded, in order that those of 
one-fourth should be sustained ? 

If this committee had been present, they must 
have seen that if there was any thing " irregular or 
disorderly" in that transaction, it w^as chargeable 
upon T. C. C, and those few who supported him, 
by their long resistance to the voice and general 
sense of the meeting. 

It had been the practice for some time in our 
men^s meeting, at the time for the appointment of 
clerks and other officers, for the representatives of 
the preparative meetings, to meet previously and 
propose names to the Monthly Meeting. On this 



• For the document her© reyiewed see page 83. 



158 



MONTHLY meeting's 



occasion., the representatives met and were not able 
to agree on names for clerks, which was reported 
to iho meeting, — viz., that they were equally divi- 
ded. Now, no one ^vill pretend to say that the bare 
nomination of an officer, by the representatives of 
inferior meetings, is conclusive on the superior 
meethig, even if there was no discrepancy of opin- 
ion among them. The nomination of an officer is 
one thing, and his appointment and installation is 
another thing, and ought to be so, because many 
other members of such meeting may have better 
knowledge of some disqualifying trait in a man's 
character and conduct than any of those represen- 
tatives. But the actual transaction was this, — the 
time for which the former clerk was appointed had 
expired; the usual time for making the appointment 
had come, and the Monthly Meeting must have a clerk, 
either by the continuance of the former, or by the ap- 
pointment of a ne w one ; and the representatives had 
not reconciled their views in relation to it ; where- 
upon the meeting, not giving the preference to 
either of those talked of in the representatives' 
meeting, agreed upon a third person, and him it ap- 
pointed for its clerk, and that without any expressed 
objection to the individual by any one present. And 
this practice of naming as well as of appointing a 
clerk immediately by the meeting has been the an- 
cient usage and practice of South Kingston Month- 
ly Meeting from its first organization until within a 
few years ; and the same practice has prevailed in 
the preparative meetings, and in our women's meet- 
ing up to this time. Nor can there be found any 
conclusion on our records cancelling that practice, 
or establishing any other to the forfeiture of the 
X'ight vested in our Monthly Meeting, of naming its 
own officers. 

Second, — The committee further state, **that 
they are satisfied that Samuel Sheffield took his 
seat at the table, and made the minute appointing 
himself, out of the usual and long established order 



APPEAL. 



159 



of said meeting in the appointment of its clerk/* To 
which W8 remark as follows : That T. C. C. having 
served this meeting as clerk for many years, has, 
as we believe, in every case of his re-appointment, 
that is every year, (to use the com.mittee's own 
words,) " made the minute appointing himself/' 
And the same has been the case under similar cir- 
cumstances, in relation both to Quarterly and Year- 
ly Meeting's clerks, if not in all business meetings 
in New England. But that it is usual, w^here a 
new selection is made, for the former clerk to make 
the minute of the appointment of the new one, we 
shall not pretend to gainsay ; but do subscribe 
freely to the propriety of such a usage ; — but w^e 
would ask, who was in fault that it w'as not so done 
on the occasion in question ? T. C. C. was request- 
ed to make the minute of Samuel Sheffield's ap- 
pointment, but refused doing so, and left the table 
saying, that it was not customary." 

Who then will say that it was improper or in- 
decorous for the new clerk to go to the table and 
make the minute of his own appointment, when the 
table teas vacated, and the meeting requested him to 
do so ? And if any indecorum was manifested on 
the occasion, was it not on the part of T. C. C, by 
remaining long at the table and advocating his own 
claims, after the question had been fully decided by 
the meeting; as well as by the manner of his leav- 
ing the table ? 

Third, — They object to the addition made at this 
time to the committee appointed the month before, 
pronouncing it " contrary to the general usage of 
our Society,^' 

To prove that such has been the frequent usage 
of the Society, we need but refer to the recollection 
of everv intellicrent member of it. But we micfht 
reler to our own records for proof of such practice, 
if indeed this committee had not taken them from 
us ! and all access to them since been denied us ! 



160 



MONTHLY meeting's 



We would call the attention of Friends particulariy 
to the usage of both our Quarteriy Meetmg, and our 
Select Quarteriy Meetmg, within the last two or 
three years, in relation to additions to committees. 

But if any thing were needed to show the utter 
inconsistency of this charge, we have it in the fact^ 
that at the time when the first four were appointed, 
in the 4th month, the Yearly Meeting's Committee, 
(while urging the immediate appointment of a com- 
mittee on the case,) themselves suggested to South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting that they could make 
an addition at their next meeting, if desirable, on 
account of the smallness of the meeting at that 
time ! ! And they afterwards, in the 7th month, 
consented to an addition to another committee in 
our meeting ! 

Besides, the Yearly Meeting's Committee ac- 
knowledged the ichole of the committee of the 
Monthly Meeting, by proceeding with their case 
against John Wilbur before them, — and refusing to 
proceed with any one present but the committee and 
John Wilbur; threatening to leave if the committee 
was not select. When it was so, they produced 
their documents, and proceeded with the case, 
without objecting to any of the committee, upon 
any ground whatever. 

Fourth. — They say that they "have cause to ap- 
prehend from the manner in which the committee 
was selected, and from their relationship to the in- 
dividual under care, it was with a view to prevent 
an imp a } tial exercise of our Christian disciplined 

This high charge and accusation of design in 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting to prevent an 
impartial exercise of our Discipline, is well known, 
as we trust, by all who took a part in that nomina- 
tion, to be equally unfounded and unjust ! 

But inasmuch as we have no discipline which 
excludes or exempts relations from such service in 
the church, it has with us always been considered 



APPEAL. 



161 



to be discretionary with Monthly Meetings to ap- 
point such as are thought most suitable for the ser- 
vice, as was done in the present case. It is true 
that several of the committee are distantly related 
to John Wilbur, but not one of them stands within 
the line prescribed by our Discipline, as being a re- 
lationship unsuitable for the marriage connexion. 
Besides, two of those appointed without objection in 
the fourth month, when the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee were present — ^-were relations of John 
Wilbur. 

It is remarkable that the Quarterly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, at this late period, should have come for- 
ward with objection to the addition, as well as the 
relationship of the Monthly Meeting's Committee^ 
where no objection on this ground, or indeed any 
other, was made at the time of its appointment, nor 
afterwards, by the Yearly Meeting's Committee be- 
fore the trial, or while it was in progress, but they 
brought forward all their charges and went through 
with their evidence, and it was only after the report 
was made, and found to be in favor of John Wilbur 
that this singular objection was urged. 

And but for the unjust act of our former clerk, 
endorsed by this Quarterly Meeting's Committee in 
withholding from us our Records, we should have 
been able to make it appear thereby, that in cases 
of dealing, much nearer relatives to the party have 
often been appointed to treat with him, a usage 
which we not only claim as having been long prac- 
ticed in this meeting, but also in others. 

But it seems proper under this head to state, in- 
asmuch as the Quarterly Meeting's Committee have 
charged us v/ith deviation from our former prac- 
tice, that in addition to their advising and endorsing 
our former clerk's breach of trust, they had at the 
time gone so far themselves, as to have sent, a few 
days previous to making this grave charge, and 
taken away our books of records, papers, &c., and 



162 



MOXTHLY meeting's 



conveyed them to some place not within om* bor- 
ders, and unknown to us ! and then, after this tres- 
pass upon oar rigiits of property, they challenge 
our late practice as not being in accordance with 
our former, whilst they themselves are thus surrep- 
titiously withholding from us the only legal evi- 
dence whereby our former practice can be proved, 
and by which most easily done, but for this their 
conduct, so foreign from the Christian rule and pre- 
cept. 

And we may further say, that one of this very 
committee appointed by Rhode Island Quarterly 
Meeting, to advise and assist in the disposition of 
the case of John Wilbur, is more nearly allied to 
him by blood than either of those in his own Month- 
ly Meeting's Committee ; and shall we, for that rea- 
son, charge the Quarterly Meeting as they have 
South Kingston I\Ionthly Meeting, that they have 
acted with a view to prevent an impartial exercise 
of our Christian discipline ?" If they have cause for 
such charge, therefore, on the ground of relation- 
ship, we more. 

The circumstance that the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee did not attend our Monthly Meeting in 
the 5th month, and consequently their knowledge of 
its proceedings was only through the reports abroad, 
and those reports, as it would seem, by their effects 
on the minds of the committee, must have been of 
a very deceptive and partial character, and hence 
forming premises insufficient and unsafe whereon 
to predicate a complaint, and to form a judgment 
without hearing both sides of the case, in matters of 
so serious a nature as contained in their document, 
now under consideration. And it is a circumstance 
greatlv to be regretted and lamented, that a com- 
mittee from a Quarterly Meeting of Friends, entrust- 
ed with affairs of great moment to the peace and 
well being of Society, should have been so credulous 
and unguarded, as well as so adventurous as thus 



APPEAL. 



163 



to have condemned a Monthly Meetmg upon vague 
report, and without a hearing ! and upon such 
ground to attempt to break up its domgs for near 
half a year back, is a matter of no small surprise to 
us. Hence we are persuaded that all impartial 
friends must see that the advice of the Quarterly 
Meeting's Committee, in relation to the transactions 
in the 5th month, if accepted and drawn into pre- 
cedent, would tend to- break up and lay waste the 
order of Society, and lead to an overthrow of the 
rights which our Yearly Meeting has conferred 
upon our subordinate branches, as set forth in our 
Discipline. 

Moreover, any attempt by a Quarterly Meeting, 
or by a deputation from it to interfere with the dis- 
ciplinary proceedings of a Monthly Meeting, acting 
wath and under the provisions of our Discipline ; or 
to arrest it in its usual progress, we must say would 
be an abuse of the superior authority of a Quarter- 
ly Meeting, which like that of a Monthly Meeting, 
has but a derived authority, and both from the same 
source, to w^it, from the Yearly Meeting. And the 
subordinate is as equally entitled to its rights as the 
superior, and, moreover, ought to stand as inde- 
p indent in its judgment in the concerns properly 
belonging to it, as the superior, being the only body 
authorized by the Yearly Meeting to deal with and 
disow^n offenders. But the Quarterly Meeting (if 
applied to and not otherwise) has the right to re- 
verse the judgment of a Monthly Meeting, but not 
to coerce a Monthly Meeting, nor to arrest its pro- 
ceedings, nor to reverse them until the case be 
brought through the prescribed channel. And the 
Quarterly Meeting is subject to a similar reversal of 
its judgment by the Yearly Meeting, (when proper- 
ly applied to and not otherwise.) 

And who would expect the Yearly Meeting, hav- 
ing been informed that a case of judicature was 
pending before a Quarterly Meeting, and likely to 



164 



MONTHLY meeting's 



result either in the confirming or the revoking of the 
disownment of an individual by a Monthly Meet- 
ing, we say, who would expect the Yearly Meeting 
to interfere with the case until it be brought to that 
body in the manner which itself has ordained and 
prescribed ? Surely no one. Nor has the Yearly 
Meeting, in the nature of things, any right, either re- 
ligious or moral, to act contrary to its own laws 
and regulations ; and especially where it affects the 
rights of either individuals or of Monthly or Quar- 
terly Meetings. No more has a Quarterly Meet- 
ing any right at all to infringe upon those rights of 
a Monthly Meeting, which the Yearly Meeting has 
given it and guaranteed to it. But the Monthly 
Meeting is to be left to act conscientiously and free- 
ly, so long as it remains sound in our doctrine, and 
faithful to our Discipline ; and that without the co- 
ercive interference of any other body. But if a 
Monthly Meeting become apostate in principle, it is 
then consequently unfit to exercise the concerns of 
a Monthly Meeting, and if it act contrary to the 
doctrines and Discipline and constitution of a Month- 
ly Meeting, then the course to be taken with it is 
obvious, being plainly pointed out by the Disci- 
pline. 

And by the tenor of our Discipline in providing 
for appeals from the judgment of all subordhiato 
meetings, it would appear that the Yearly Meeting 
supposed it altogether possible, that each of those 
bodies might be or become disqualified in relation 
to either principle or judgment. And, however 
capacitated and honestly disposed any Monthly 
Meeting may be, with a desire to act sincerely and 
correctly, agreeably to the mind of truth, and in 
conformity with the Discipline, yet without the 
rights and independency which it gives us, our meet- 
ings for the ordering of the affairs of truth, will at 
best be but merely nugatory, and the authority 
which they are designed by our excellent system of 



APPEAL. 



165 



Church government, to extend over the members 
thereof, will be lost, and any pretensions to such 
authority will be in vain. 

The proceedings which have been resorted to, in 
order to coerce South Kingston Monthly Meeting 
to a conformity with the views of others in author- 
ity, brings to mind the trial of William Penn and 
William Mead, before the Court of Oyer and Ter- 
miner, in London ; the judges whereof derived their 
authority from the highest source in the kingdom. 
These judges by the exercise of their power, or 
rather the abuse of it, attempted repeatedly to 
coerce the jury to a conformity to their own wills. 
But William Penn clearly set forth that the jurors 
in their department^ ought to be as independent as 
those in any other department, though never so 
high, under the great charter of England, and were 
to act according to the testimony adduced and their 
own consciences. And who will venture to say 
that the jury alluded to, went beyond their right of 
authority in giving in their opinion, though contrary 
to the advices and menaces of the higher power, 
or in their disobedience to its commands? If a 
jury must do just as the court shall say, then w^hat 
use in juries ? And who will say that any of the 
requirements of men, (let them assume whatever 
authority they may,) directed to a Monthly Meet- 
ing, or to an individual, if that requirement is un- 
authorized by our Disciphne and usages, and con- 
trary to a sense of duty, on the part of those to 
whom it is offered, we ask who will say that a diso- 
bedience to it is reprehensible, or an offence against 
society ? 

And now in relation to the concluding portion of 
the document of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee 
under review, — embracing their requirements of 
us : — We believe that no candid and impartial man 
need do more than read it, to be convinced of the 



166 



MONTHLY meeting's 



magnitude and danger of the authority there claim- 
ed, and attempted to be exercised. 

The requirement of the immediate removal of 
the clerk, duly appointed by the meeting, and recog- 
nized as our rightful clerk by the Committees of 
both the Yearly and Quarterly Meetings, and by 
the Quarterly Meeting itself ; — and the selection and 
naming by them, of a successor, without allowing 
the Monthly Meeting any voice in the matter, strikes 
us as a most extraordinary and dangerous assump- 
tion of power. And no less surprising is their 
advice to annul and make void our records. 

To discharge an individual from under dealing 
who had committed a high offence against his 
Monthly Meeting, by withholding from it its right- 
ful property, — it is true with the advice and consent 
of this Quarterly Meeting's Committee ; — but no 
less an offence and breach of trust for that ; — and 
one w^hich the Monthly Meeting was not at liberty 
to pass over, while it was in the exercise of its just 
rights, and authority granted and secured to it, and 
enjoined upon it, by the Yearly Meeting for the gov- 
ernment of its members. 

In addition to this is the direction " that the deci- 
sion in the 8th month last, as entered on our minutes 
in relation to John Wilbur, be set aside and be made 
void and of no effect." 

The disownment of this Friend, we would have 
the committee bear in mind, was the great object 
sought to be attained by all these extraordinary 
movements, — the great end, which all the means put 
in requisition from the beginning were aimed at. 

It was because South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
ing could not be brought to condemn and disown 
a member, whose offence consisted in his faithful 
testimony against those things which were calcula- 
ted to lay waste and desolate, the only true bond of 
Christian union among us ; namely, an agreement, 



APPEAL 



167 



and unity in those doctrines and testimonies, reviv- 
ed and promulgated by our worthy predecessors, 
and still held dear by all true Friends ; — we say it 
was because South Kingston Monthly Meeting could 
not be induced by all the influences which had been 
brought to bear upon it, to disown this Friend 
against its own judgment, that that Monthly Meet- 
ing was dissolved, and done too as we verily believe, 
not by the Quarterly Meeting, really and truly as 
such, but by a few leading men therein, the very 
same who had in an unauthorized and improper 
manner, taken up J. W. in the first instance, and all 
along pursued their object with a zeal v/orthy of a 
better cause. 

In the introduction of this case to our Monthly 
Meeting, it was called upon by the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, as the legitimate body, to give its judg- 
ment upon an alleged offence of one of its mem- 
bers. Whereupon a large committee was appointed 
by South Kingston Monthly Meeting in the order 
of society, and much time was allowed by them for 
deliberation previously to the interview with the 
parties ; and when met, a patient investigation of 
the case was had, and the evidences and allegations 
in relation to it were heard, occupying the space of 
four days ; and the committee reported at the time 
alluded to, that the complaint in their judgment, was 
not sustained ; with which report the meeting being 
satisfied, it consequently adopted it, a very large 
proportion of the meeting uniting therein. And, 
inasmuch as these proceedings were not precipitate, 
but very deliberate, and in the order of our Disci- 
phne, we see no reason nor right we have to reverse 
that decision, affecting as it would the rights of an 
individual, w^hose case had been once decided by 
the proper tribunal and he acquitted. (And seeing 
that the committee who brought the complaint, had 
previously made so light of the alleged offence as 
to assure him that they were disposed to require but a 



168 



MONTHLY meeting's 



very Utth concession from him) we think it truly 
remarkable that such unprecedented advice should 
have been given ; and that such great efforts should 
be made for the expulsion of a member whose 
offence appears only to have been found in the exer- 
cise of a concern to sustain our doctrines, testimo- 
nies, and Discipline. 

(The record giving an account of divers inter- 
views Avhich the Yearly jMeeting's and select Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committees had with John Wilbur, 
evinces his importunities with them for a plain 
statement in writing, of the ground of their uneasi- 
ness with him, in order and preparatory to a deU- 
berate vindication of the course he had taken : — 
and this record at the same time shows their refusal, 
as well as the shifts and evasions to which they 
resorted, to prevent him from having an opportunity 
for a fair and full hearing before them ; a refusal 
which they continued, until they brought a com- 
plaint against him to his own Monthly Meeting.) 
And subsequently, in carrying out the same deter- 
mination not to hjar his defence, when the case was 
investigated by the committee of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, the Yearly Meeting's Committee, 
after their own etforts adducing evidence, and after 
pleading for the sustainment of their charges, refus- 
ed and would not, and did not stay to hear J. Wilbur's 
defence, and consequently did not know, and do not 
know what it was. And these remarks are adduced, 
not so much m this place to show their ostensible 
abandonment of the case, by withdrawing them- 
selves, and taking the complaint and all the papers 
with them, as they are to show that they nexer had, 
nor ever would allow themselves an official hearing 
of J. Wilburs vindication of his proceedings and 
of the course which he had taken. 

Hence, we see how absurd and arbitrary w^ere 
the proceedings of this Committee of the Yearly 
Meeting, in their attempts to coerce South Kingston 



APPEAL, 



160 



Monthly Meeting in the 8th month last, to refuse 
the acceptance of the report of its own committee, 
who had patiently heard and examined the eviden- 
ces brought on both sides. 

Again, it becomes us to say, that the Quarterly 
Meethig's Committee (^vho also attempted at the 
time alluded to, to press South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting to a rejection of the report aforesaid,) were 
so entirely uninformed of the merits of the case, as 
never to have heard J. Wilbur's vindication and 
defence from the charges preferred a^gainst him ! 

Therefore, they, the Quarterly Meeting's Com- 
mittee, are justly chargeable with attempting to 
compel South Kingston Monthly Meeting to a mea- 
sure in the decision of a case, w^hich themselves, 
had not the legitimate means of understanding ! ! 
Furthermore the same Committee of Rhode Island 
Quarterly Meeting, labored under the same disqual- 
ification and w^ant of the requisite understanding of 
the case, w^hen they so gravely advised South King- 
ston Monthly Meeting, at a subsequent sitting, at 
once to cancel and annul their decision therein ! 

These proceedings of the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee must, as we conceive, be considered, 
by all judicious men, regardful of the welfare of 
society, to be in no small degree, rash and adven- 
turous ; and if sustained, of dangerous consequence, 
as well in relation to the estabhshment of so hurt- 
ful a precedent, as the direct and serious efl^ects of 
a violation and disregard of the rights of a Month- 
ly Meeting and of individuals, directly tending and 
leading as an example to the trifling with Friend's 
records, and rendering them precarious and void 
at the pleasure of superior bodies. And should the 
authority claimed in the document before us, be 
sustained and established by the Yearly Meeting, it 
will be seen that not only the right of membership, 
but oar property and the line of inheritemce, will 
be jeoparded and made to he at the will of such, as 

8 



170 



MONTHLY meeting's 



may in the lapse of things clothe themselves with 
such authority as is assumed by this Committee ! 

Upon a review of the proceedings of the Quarter- 
ly Meeting in dissolving our Monthly Meeting, we 
submit to the committee the following remarks.* 

And although modesty and civility combined, 
with the deference usually paid to persons of 
standing and influence, would suggest a forbear- 
ance of expression, yet those leading essentials, 
Truth and Justice, hold a superior claim that can^ 
not be denied, in the judicial department especially, 
when the character and rights of individuals are in 
question, when the rights and existence of delegat- 
ed bodies, instituted by the highest authority and 
for indispensable purposes, are in great jeopardy* 
Then it is that even charity itself cannot exclude 
the rights and demands of these arbiters, the um- 
pire of Truth and Justice. We therefore feel bound 
to say, 

1st. That the principal actors in this Quarterly 
Meeting, against South Kingston Monthly Meeting 
are recognized among the members of the commit- 
tee which first complained of that Monthly Meeting 
to the Quarterly Meeting; thus assuming the seat 
of judgment on the decision of a complaint first 
brought by themselves. 

2d. That those friends and such others as were 
determined to dissolve South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting, were exceedingly unwilling, and long and 
strenuously opposed and resisted the reading of the 
Discipline and Law of the Society, (in such cases 
provided) in the hearing of the Quarterly Meeting, 
as ordained by the Yearly Meeting as a Rule of de- 
cision in such cases as was then before the meeting. 

8d. That when, after a long struggle, the propo- 



* For the proceedings of the Quarterly Meeting, here remarked 
upon, Eee preceding Narrative, page 85. 



APPEAL. 



171 



sal for reading the Discipline, did prevail, no one of 
these persons attempted in any way whatever to 
reconcile this proposed measure to that Discipline 
by an exposition of its several items, nor to show 
the adaptation of their proceedings to it ; but only 
claimed its authority in the gross, for which omis- 
sion the reasons must be obvious. 

4th. That the representatives and members of 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting, and many others 
on their behalf, earnestly solicited an appeal to the 
Discipline on the subject then in discussion, and 
were willing to rest their whole case upon its pre- 
mises. 

5th. That one of the representatives from South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting, did in this Quarterly 
Meeting challenge the authority and explain that 
Discipline, and exemplified the bearing of its seve- 
ral items, showing the gradation and dehberation 
therein clearly premised in the management of such 
cases ; and that such usage had not been regarded 
in the travel of this case. 

6th. That these complainants were not only dis- 
posed themselves to decide this case against the 
Monthly Meeting without a hearing, but most cruel- 
ly striving to deprive and debar its members from 
being heard in any icay^ even as suppliants pleading 
for their rights^ and peremptorily forbidding their 
representative giving an account even of some of 
the most prominent facts and circumstances that 
had transpired in the Monthly Meeting. 

Now let it be enquired, 

1st. Who were they that plead for their case to 
be first investigated, and then judged by the Law 
of the Society ? 

2d. Who were they that strenuously resisted the 
light, by refusing to hear the case in any way, and 
chose to judge it without Law or Rule of Disci- 
pline ? 

3d, What penalty would the law of the land in- 



172 



MONTHLY meeting's AFPEAL. 



flict upon that tribunal, which should have judged 
and condemned a man for a crime, and shall have 
executed that judgment upon him, without allowing 
him any hearing upon his indictment ? 

As directed, several of the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee attended South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
ing in the 11th month, and after the meeting was 
opened as usual, they declared the object of their 
mission, and then read the doings of the Quarterly 
Meeting, comprehending its decree as heretofore 
noticed, and then called on the members quietly to 
separate. But friends of this Monthly Meeting hav- 
ing from the first acted sincerely in pursuing what 
they believed to be the mind of Truth and the order 
of Society ; and clearly seeing, as they thought, 
that the Quarterly Meeting had violated the plain 
provisions which were made for Monthly Meetings 
in such cases, concluded to appeal to the Yearly 
Meeting for a redress of their grievances, and in- 
formed the committee that they were minded to re- 
main together a sufficient length of time to make 
suitable arrangements for that purpose. And as it 
was the doings of the Quarterly Meeting which 
they had just read to us, that we only had to appeal 
from, they were requested to furnish us with a copy 
thereof, but they refused to do so ! 

Nevertheless, an appeal was drawn up in a sum- 
mary way, and we, the undersigned, were appoint- 
ed to represent South Kingston Monthly Meeting, 
and to act on its behalf in the prosecution of it. And 
subsequently we applied to the clerk of Rhode 
Island Quarterly Meeting for a copy of the minutes 
dissolving our Monthly Meeting, but were refused 
by a reference to the Quarterly Meeting itself ; 
therefore, verbal application was made to the Quar- 
terly Meeting in the second month last, for the ne- 
cessary copies, but which copies that meeting re- 
fused to grant. 

Again, as an access to the records was very es- 



DISCIPLINE. 



173 



sential to us in preparing our case, and such was 
also our rigtit by Discipline, and in order that no in- 
formality should be alleged as an excuse, the commit- 
tee at large made a written application to both the 
Quarterly Meetmg and the Select Quarterly Meeting, 
for the liberty of access to the records of both meet- 
ings, but w^ere refused by both ! — Were refused such 
rights as the law of the land has guaranteed even to 
criminals, and which is never refused them, and 
such too, as our Yearly Meeting has guaranteed to 
all its members. And whilst we are referring to 
usages, we feel it our duty further to inform the 
committee that on divers occasions in meetings for 
business, when a recurrence to discipline, in things 
relating to this case, has been asked for, the reading 
has been waived and declined. 

DISCIPLINE, 

Authorising the dissolution of Monthly Meetings, ^c. 

(From Book of Discipline, pages 118-119.) 

" When a Quarterly Meeting hath come to a judg- 
ment respecting any difference, relative to any 
Monthly Meeting belonging to them, and notified 
the same in writing to such Monthly Meeting, the 
said Monthly Meeting ought to submit to the'^judg- 
ment of the Quarterly Meeting ; but if such Monthly 
Meeting shall not be satisfied therewith, then the 
Monthly Meeting may appeal to the Yearly Meet- 
ing, against the judgment and determination of the 
Quarterly Meeting. 

" And if a Monthly Meeting shall refuse to take 
the advice and submit to the judgment of the Quar- 
terly Meeting, and notwithstanding will not appeal 
against the determination of the said meeting to the 
Yearly Meeting ; in such case the Quarterly Meet- 
ing shall be at liberty either to dissolve such^Month- 
ly Meeting, or bring the aflfair before the next or 
succeeding Yearly Meeting. 



174 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED. 



" And in case a Quarterly Meeting shall dissolve 
a Monthly Meeting, the dissolved Monthly Meeting 
or any part thereof, in the name of the said meeting, 
shall be at liberty to appeal to the next or succeed- 
ing Yearly Meeting, against such dissolution ; but 
if the dissolved Monthly Meeting, or a part thereof 
in its behalf, shall not appeal to the Yearly Meeting, 
the Quarterly Meeting shall join the members of the 
said late Monthly Meeting, to such other Monthly 
Meeting as they may think most convenient ; and 
until such time,* shall take care that no inconveni- 
ence doth thereby ensue to the members of such 
dissolved meeting, respecting any branch of our 
Discipline. 

" And if any of the Monthly Meeting, to which 
the Quarterly Meeting shall join the whole or a part 
of the late ]\Ionthly Meeting, do think themselves 
aggrieved, they shall be at liberty to appeal against 
the Quarterly Meeting to the Yearly Meeting, and 
until such appeal is heard and determined, the 
friends added by the Quarterly Meeting to them, 
shall be deemed their members." 1743. 

DISCIPLINE ON THIS CASE CONSIDERED. 

When a Quarterly Meeting hath come to a judg- 
ment respecting any difference relative to any Month- 
ly Meeting belonging to them — 

Now, whether this difference relates to a misun- 
derstanding among the members of a Monthly 
Meeting, or w^hether it relate to a dispute with ano- 
ther Monthly Meeting, in relation to the settlement 
of those who are needy ; or whether it relate to 
rights of membership, or whatever — this discipline 



*This portion of Discipline was transcribed from that of Lon- 
don Yearly Meeting, and adopted here. In the original the words 
'until such junction" were used instead of until such time." 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED. 



175 



does not define, neither does it matter what it is, if 
the Quarterly Zvleeting has come to a judgment : 
it is the Quarterly Meeting that must first come to 
a judgment : and whether that judgment is ground- 
ed upon the report of a committee, made in open 
session, or whether the parties had been fully heard 
in the Quarterly Meeting itself, it matters not, pro- 
vided the Quarterly Meetmg itself " had come to 
a judgment which point arriyed at, the rule goes 
on and says — and notified the same in icriting to 
such Monthly fleeting. 

Question. — Who is to notify the Monthly Meet- 
ing in writing ? 

Answer. — The Quarterly Meetmg. 

Question. — But where emd hoy/ is that writing to 
be agreed upon and executed ? 

Answer. — In the Quarterly Meeting, and signed 
by the clerk : and any paper yv'hatever, yrhich is 
not there openly agreed upon, and so signed, cannot 
be accredited any where as the judgment of the 
Quarterly Meeting : a position wliich no person 
will gainsay. 

Well, when such writing arrives, the rule saj's or 
continues to say, The said yionthlij Meeting ought 
to submit to the judgment of the Qtiarterly Meeting, 

Here the order, or relative standing of the two 
bodies is alluded to ; — the (Quarterly Meeting the 
superior, and the Monthly Meeting the inferior. 
But what follows shows that the judgment of the 
Quarterly Meeting is not imperious and final upon 
the Monthly Meeting, for it further says, But if such 
Monthly Meeting shall not he satisfied therewith^ 
then the yionthly Meeting may appeal to the Yearly 
Meeting, against the judgment and determination of 
the Quarterly Meeting. 

Here we find no requisition laid upon the Month- 
ly Meeting to decide immediately upon that docu- 
ment, (or at the same sitting,) whether it will abide 
the decision or not ; consequently, this discipline, 



17G 



DISCirLINE CONSIDERED. 



good reason, and Christian usage, all agree in allow- 
ing time for due deliberation, inasmuch as questions 
of great importance may demand and require it. 

And when, on due consideration, such Monthly 
Meeting feels itself dissatisfied, then it has the right, 
by the above, to appeal to a body of higher authori- 
ty than the Quarterly Meeting — to the ultimate um- 
pire of the Yearly Meeting. 

Now, in the above recited provision, as compre- 
hended in the first paragraph, we see that there is 
not the least mention made of laying down the 
Monthly Meeting. 

But the next paragraph, in an extension of the 
subject, provides as follows : 

And if a Monthly Meeting sliaU refuse to take the ad- 
vice, and suhmit to the judgment of the Quarterly Meet- 
ing, and notivithstanding will not appeal against the de- 
termination of the said meeting to the Yearly Meeting ; 
in such case the Quarterly Meeting shall he at liberty either 
to dissolve such Monthly Meeting, or to hring the affair he^ 
fore the next or succeeding Yearly Meeting,^ 

Here in this second paragraph it is provided and 
decided beyond all disputation, that a Quarterly 
Meeting shall have no authority to lay down a 
Monthly iMeeting, until the Quarterly jMeeting's 
advice is resisted by a tvvo-fold refusal — first, if 
the Monthly Meeting refuse to accept of the Quar- 
terly Meeting's advice, or to abide its judgment : 
and secondly, if it refuse to appeal therefrom, then 
the Quarterly Meeting may lay it down, or consult 
the Yearly Meeting in the case : evidently making 
it a serious matter to take from a Monthly Meeting 
its charter, as evinced by this whole paragraph, 
and more especially by the last sentence of it. And 
no mention is yet made, nor liberty given for the 
annexation of the members to another Monthly 



" In which see bow much lime is c-llowed. 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED. 



177 



Meeting, nor subsequently until the members thereof 
have time more fully to consider the case, and have 
opportunity the second time for appealing now 
against the dissolution of the Monthly Meeting, as 
set forth in the first part of the third paragraph, 
which is as follows : 

And in case a Quarterly Meeting shall dissolve a MontTi- 
ly Meetings the dissolved Monthly Meeting, or any part 
thereof, in the name of said Monthly Meeting, shall he at 
liberty to appeal to the next or succeeding Yearly Meeting 
against such dissolution.^ 

And here no construction is wanting to make it 
plainly appear that this second provision and liber- 
ty for appealing, is against the dissolution^ not 
against the annexation ; for no annexation is as yet 
provided for, unless such second opportunity of ap- 
pealing is refused or neglected, as set forth in the 
latter part of this third paragraph, to wit, 

But if the dissolved Monthly Meeting, or part thereof, 
in its behalf shall not appeal to the Yearly Meeting, the 
Quarterly Meeting shall join the members of said late 
Monthly Meeting to such other Monthly Meeting as they 
may think most convenient ; and until sucJi. time, (the time 
of annexation) shall take care that no inconvenience doth 
thereby ensue to the members of such dissolved Monthly 
Meeting respecting any branch of our discipline. 

Here, again, in this last part of the 3d paragraph 
is further and incontrovertible evidence, that the 
enactors of this law of Society, designed that the 
annexation should be subsequent, and to follow, and 
only to follow, the refusal or neglect of appealing 
against the act of the Quarterly Meeting in dissolv- 
ing the Monthly Meeting. 

And the latter clause, " until such time, shall 
take care," &c., if it has any meaning at all, it 
means that there will have been a space of time 
between the dissolution of the Monthly Meeting 



* Here again, see how muc^^e is allowed 



178 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED. 



and the annexation of its members to another, as 
indeed does the whole section on this subject, clear- 
ly demonstrate by the gradations therein premised, 
that it was the design of the framers of that disci- 
pline,* that in so serious a matter as the dismem- 
bering of a Monthly Meeting, (like that of dismem- 
bering the human body,) that great deliberation, 
caution, and care should be observed, lest a rash 
procedure should be cause of sorrow. Finally, we 
see that in considering this discipline that there are 
prominent and governing features which stand forth 
in full view, to wit : 

First, — The Quarterly Meeting must be informed 
that a difference exists in a Monthly Meeting, and 
secondly, the Quarterly Meeting must in some way 
become ascertained of the true merits of that differ- 
ence, and by means of that knowledge come to a 
judgment in relation to it ; and when the Quarterly 
Meeting has thus come to a judgment, then the 
course to be pursued is to send that decision, (rela- 
tive to the proper disposition and settlement of the 
case,) in writing, signed by the clerk, and directed 
to that Monthly Meeting. And if that Monthly 
Meeting is not satisfied therewith, it has the right 
allowed it, after mature consideration, to appeal 
from that judgment of the Quarterly Meeting, in re- 
lation to the existing difficulty, to the Yearly Meet- 
ing. But when the Quarterly Meeting has had time 
to ascertain, and has ascertained, which cannot, of 
course, be less than three months after the issuing of 
its judgment; and peradventure it may be six 
months, (the time which discipline provides for the 
limit of appeals) before the Quarterly Meeting can 
be informed. And if such Monthly Meeting de- 
cline the acceptance of the Quarterly Meeting's 
judgment, and also decline appealing, then the 



*• First agreed on in London Yearly Meeting, in earlier times. 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED* 



179 



Quarterly Meeting is authorized, after due consid- 
eration, either to dissolve the Monthly Meeting or 
to apply to the Yearly Meeting for advice. But 
if it decide to dissolve it, then, of course, that de- 
cision goes to the Monthly Meeting, in writing, 
again as before, signed by the clerk; and then 
again the prescribed time for appeals is to be allow- 
ed for the Monthly Meeting to come to a conclu- 
sion whether it will abide that decision, and to get 
the result of their deliberations to the Quarterly 
Meeting : and if not to appeal, then it is, and not 
till then, that the Quarterly Meeting is authorized 
by our discipline to annex its members to another 
Monthly Meeting. And then also it is, when a 
Monthly Meeting has twice refused the decision of 
the Quarterly Meeting, and twice declined to ap- 
peal, and not until then, if the Monthly Meeting re- 
main dissatisfied, that our discipline ordains that 
the members of that Monthly Meeting shall become 
members of such other Monthly Meeting, as the 
Quarterly Meeting may direct, and from which af- 
terward there is no appeal, on the part of the dis- 
solved Monthly Meeting. 

And here we would call the attention of the 
committee to another very important consideration, 
vizf, that the Monthly Meeting was not laid down 
on account of any disorderly proceedings therein as 
was professed to be the case ; but that these extra- 
ordinary and high handed measures of the Quarter- 
ly Meeting leading to and resulting in its formal dis- 
solution were evidently elicited by the Quarterly 
Meeting's Comniittee, for the reason that said 
Monthly Meeting, as was feared, would find no 
cause of disownment against one of its members 
whom they, the Yearly Meeting's Committee, wish- 
ed, and were apparently determined should be 
disowned : a desire and determination evinced by 
the precipitation and recklessness with which they 
hurried forward towards the consummation of this 



180 WHY THE M. MEETING WAS DISSOLVED, 



darling purpose, prostrating every obstacle which 
interposed: even the discipline itself: and still fur- 
ther evinced by the reports of exterm ination which 
went abroad, viz., that if South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting refused to disown that member, it 7nus.t he 
put down, and it icould be jmt down; and this re- 
ported, and apparent determination of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee was openly and widely spread, 
even beyond the limits of New England Yearly 
Meeting. 

That they would proceed to this extremity of 
destroying a Monthly Meeting, not the least among 
the tribes, nor yet the least in weight of character 
or concern for the right management of the affairs 
of a Monthly Meeting. And all this for the sake of 
exterminating from the Society one individual ! for 
the sake of driving from the church an approved 
minister of the Society, whose guide in the pro- 
ceedings complained of, were the impressions of 
apprehended rehgious duty, and the requirement of 
our discipline. And when, too, this committee, in 
a collective capacity, had given him the assurance 
that " they would be satisfied with a very little 
concession," and during their urgent entreaties for 
this kind of satisfaction, no mention was made of 
sincerity. And subsequently the committee sent to 
him a deputation of four of their number, proposing 
that he should say, " If I have done wrong, I am 
sorry for it," and thus voluntarily reducing their 
uneasiness and claim for concession to a " very lit- 
tle thing" — nay, to what we consider nothing at 
all : and to which form he might safely have sub- 
scribed, but for the version which he suspected they 
would give it, and send abroad. And no complaint 
was made to South Kingston Monthly Meeting of 
any thing as having transpired since those inter- 
views vjiih the Yearly Meeting's Committe, above 
alluded to. And the aid of the Quarterly Meeting 
was evidently invoked for the purpose of effecting 



RECAPITULATIO^^ 



181 



the object of the Yearly Meetmg's Committee, to 
wit : the diso^vnment of this Friend ; which object 
could not be consummated without the instrumen- 
tahty of the Quarterly Meeting, in either compel- 
Hng the Monthly Meeting to a nullification of its 
records, or a reversal of its proceedings in regard 
to that individual ; or on failure of that, to dissolve 
the Monthly Meeting ; and to place that member 
within the reach of their power, in another Month- 
ly Meeting, which might be expected to be more 
obedient to their mandate. And when there placed, 
the object of his disownment, so desirable to 
them, was effected, by the personal presence, 
dictation and control of at least seven of that com- 
mittee, who were the complainants against the indi- 
vidual, and against the Monthly ^Meeting, and one 
of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee : and barely 
two members of that ^Monthly Meeting, who were 
not included in those appointments, that agreed to 
J. Wilbur's disovrnment : and of these two, one was 
a son and the other a brother of the two most ac- 
tive members of the Yearly ^leeting's Committee, 
who brought the complaint against our member. 
And the great unreasonableness of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee is further apparent in thus 
acting, and thus judging and thus carrying over the 
heads of the great body of that Monthly Meeting, 
the denial of an honest Friend, upon the report of a 
small fraction of a committee consisting of only two 
out of nme. 

RECAPITULATION. 

In order for a summary and more concise view 
of the cardinal and most essential features in this 
important case, we have again brought them to 
view as follows : — 

1st. We have shown that the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee, by threatenings and other means, coerc- 



182 



RECAPITULATION. 



ed South Kingston Monthly Meeting into measures 
prematurelyj and aside from the usages of our 
Discipline. 

2d. That the same committqe interfered with the 
local and private concerns of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting, and attempted to interrupt the 
free action of that meeting in the appointment of 
its officers. 

3d. We have shown that the same committee 
attempted, by menaces to coerce the committee of 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting to a compliance 
with their own unreasonable requirements ; and 
that they refused to testify as witnesses, in which 
capacity they had offered themselves : and finally, 
left in the middle of the examination in a disorderly 
manner. 

4th. Again we have shown, that instead of labor- 
ing to promote unity and harmony agreeably to 
their instructions, the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
did actually give their strength and support to two 
or three restless persons, who attempted at once to 
produce a schism in our Monthly Meeting. 

5th. We have shown that this same committee, 
not long after this palpable disorder of their own, 
complained of South Kingston Monthly Meeting to 
the Quarterly Meeting for disorder ! 

6th. We have shown the disorderly proceedings 
of the Yearly Meeting's Committee, in attempting 
to break up our Monthly Meeting, whilst the report 
in that well known case was in the women's meeting 
for adjudication, and other business unfinished. 

7th. We have shown that the Committee of 
Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, on their first 
attendance, assumed the authority of cancelling our 
records at pleasure, and of setting in judgment upon 
a case which the Yearly Meeting's Committee had 
submitted to South Kingston Monthly Meeting to 
decide ; and we have also shown that this commit- 
tee assumed the authority and right of dictation, 



RECAPITULATION. 



188 



(beyond the bounds of their appointment or of the 
Quarterly Meeting's authority,) to South Kingston 
Meeting of ministers and elders, by an exercise 
of such assumption, so far as to attempt a division 
or separation of that meeting, by gravely and ear- 
nestly advising one-half of its members, "Not to 
attend that meeting." 

8th. We have show^n that both the Yearly and 
Quarterly Meeting's Committee have v/ronged us, 
in advising our former Clerk to withhold from us 
our property contained in our books and papers ; 
and the latter still more flagrantly in coming them- 
selves and taking them away out of our limits. 

9th. We have shown by their own document that 
the same Quarterly Meeting's Committee proffered 
to us their advise, requiring the nullification of divers 
portions of our records for nearly half a year then 
passed over — to release an offender from dealing, 
incured by the withholding from us our property, — 
and that they also declined to allow us reasonable 
time for our consideration of these advices, as their 
report to the Quarterly Meeting a few days after 
clearly showeth. 

10th. We have shown, that not only their Com- 
mittee as above, but the Quarterly Meeting itself, 
has condemned and deprived us of our rights, pre- 
maturely and unjustly, as well as contrary to our 
discipline ; and without the opportunity of a hear- 
ing and circumstantial representation of our case. 
We have also shown its long resistance to the read- 
ing of our discipline in relation to laying down 
Monthly Meetings : and when read, declining any 
exposition of it, or to compare their proceedings 
with it. But we have shown you as above, the 
plain and clear exposition of that discipline, (easily 
understood by the most ordinary reader,) and how 
palpably discordant therewith the Quarterly Meet- 
ing's proceedings have been. 

11th. We have shown the invalidity of the objec- 



184 



RECAPITULATION. 



tions to our proceedings, and the absurdity of the 
advice contained in the written document, presented 
to us by the Committee of that Quarterly Meeting 
in the 10th month. 

12th. We have shown that the Monthly Meeting 
was not laid down as was pretended on account of 
disorder, &c., but because it did not, and could not 
be induced to disoAvn one of its members, whose 
only oflence, on a careful and deliberate investiga- 
tion of the case, appeared to consist in his having 
faithfully, and in comphance with the requirements 
of discipline, borne testimony against the promul- 
gation of unsound and defective doctrines in the 
Society. And, that after the Monthly Meeting was 
thus illegally dissolved, and just enough of its re- 
corded proceedings nullified, to place this, our 
friend, again within their power in another Monthly 
Meeting, he was thei^e disow^ned by those very men 
w^ho first brought the complaint against him, and 
that on the report of but two out of nine of a com- 
mittee who had investigated the case. 

13th. And furthermore, we have show^n that the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee complained of South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting, upon a charge of in- 
subordination, when as yet, it had not decided, nor 
given judgment upon the complaint which they had 
brought ; it being yet in the hands of the commit- 
tee unreported. And that the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee appointed upon this representation, 
reported in favor of the summary dissolution of the 
Monthly Meeting, and its annexation to another, 
while as yet, it had not been allowed time to con- 
sider and investigate, but had referred only one 
month for consideration, their written advice. And 
that the Quarterly Meeting did adopt their report, 
and at once consummated the dissolution and annex- 
ation therein recommended. 

Hence we say, and in saying, are not afraid of 



RECAPITULATION. 



185 



being contradicted, that the course of proceedings 
which have been taken, and pursued by the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, and by the Quarterly Meet- 
ing s Committee, and by the Quarterly Meeting 
itself, have not been in conformity with our disci- 
pline, but plainly an infraction upon it, and upon its 
order and usages ; and we do therefore ask, and 
expect redress at the hands and by the decision of 
that body, which made and ordained that discipline, 
and enjoined its observance upon all its subordinate 
branches ; and in conformity to w^hich, as its own 
rule of action, the Yearly Meeting can only be the 
umpire for the termination of all controversies in 
the Society. And we apprehend there can be no 
sensible, candid mind, possessed of the knowledge 
of this case, and of the usages of our discipline, 
but must admit that there are in the foregoing, innu- 
merated diverse measures resorted to by the com- 
mittees, and by the Quarterly Meeting, any one of 
which would be sufBcient to reverse the proceed- 
ings of these bodies in this unhappy case ; and we 
are therefore assured, that the Yearly Meeting can- 
not confirm the judgment of Rhode Island Quarter- 
ly Meeting against South Kingston Monthly Meet- 
hig, and yet maintain its reputation as the righteous 
supporter and faithful upholder of the truth, and its 
own rules and regulations. 

OrftNiEL Foster, 

John Wilbur, 

John Foster, 

Charles Perry, 

Isaac Collins, 

John Foster, of Hopkinton, 

Ethan Foster, 

Samuel Sheffield, 

Elisha Kenyon, 
New2?ort, eth Mo. ISth, 1843. 



186 



APPEAL. 



JOHN WILBUR'S APPEAL, 

Against the proceedings of Greenwich Monthly 
Meeting, in their assumption of disowning him; as 
also against the proceedings of Rhode Island Quar- 
terly Meeting, in confirming the doings of Green- 
wich Monthly Meeting, in which the co??iplaint is re- 
ferried to and answered ; the erroneous proceedings 
of said Monthly Meeting refuted, and his own course 
vindicated. Substantially the same before the Year- 
ly Meeting^ s Committee as before that of the Quar- 
terly Meeting, 

His first exception against any disciplinary pro- 
ceedings over, or dealing with any of the members 
of South Kingston Monthly Meeting by Greenwich 
Monthly Meeting, rests in their want of jurisdiction 
over those members, for the reason that Rhode 
Island Quarterly Meeting did not proceed in manner 
and form prescribed by Discipline, in essaying to 
lay down said Monthly Meeting, that there was no 
cause for laying down said Monthly Meeting; but 
if such had been the case, their manner of proceed- 
ings was arbitrary and palpably at variance with 
and in direct violation of the Discipline, made and 
provided for laying down Monthly Meetings when 
the case required it, as wiH most plainly appear 
by a recurrence to the Appeal of South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting to the Yearly Meeting. 

But Greenwich Monthly Meeting professed, by 
the rules of subordination, to be under an obliga- 
tion, (or more truly the Yearly Meeting's Commit- 
tee professed it for them,) to disown the appellant ; 
alleging that the Quarterly Meeting put him under 
dealing, and required of them the consummation 
thereof. 

But Greenwich Monthly Meeting was officially 
informed that South Kingston Monthly Meeting, 



APPEAL. 



187 



and its members on its behalf, had appealed to the 
Yearly Meetmg agamst the proceedings of Rhode 
Island Quarterly Meeting in the assumption of lay- 
ing it down, and of annexing its members to that 
of Greenwich, whereon is grounded his 

2d Exception. — -That appeals from lower to 
higher courts or tribunals in all cases, are a bar to 
all executive proceedings thereafter, until that ap- 
peal is decided by the superior authority. A sus- 
pension of action which is scrupulously observed, 
and was never violated, (so far as he knows,) in 
any civil or religious proceedings heretofore. 

And the possibility, or even the probability that 
the judgment of the superior body may coincide 
with that of the inferior, is no license at all for exe- 
cutive proceedings, until the final issue, inasmuch as 
such overt proceedings may lead to great injustice, 
both in relation to civil and religious rights, and 
would also be an impeachment upon the w^ise and 
necessary provisions for a careful review of cases, 
for the safety of the community. And furthermore, 
such irrational and rash proceedings bespeak dis- 
loyalty, or a want of deference to the supreme body, 
(the Yearly Meeting,) on the one hand, and on the 
other, a disregard of the rights of individuals, if not 
a betrayal of some personal grudge, rather than a 
desire to do by him as they would that others should 
do by them in such cases. 

Hence we see not only the justice but the obliga- 
tion of all judiciary bodies, carefully and conscien- 
tiously to observe those laws provided for appeals, 
in order for fuller hearing, and staying their hands 
from all further proceedings after an appeal is made 
to a higher tribunal, agreeable to the wholesome 
provisions made by constituted authority. 

If a law can be disregarded in one instance with 
impunity, it can be disregarded in any number of 
instances that might occur. And in all such pro- 



188 



APPEAL. 



ceedings the merits of cases have nothing to do with 
the course to be taken. 

3rd Exception. — After a case of an alleged of- 
fence has been duly tried, and decided in one Month- 
ly Meeting, and the accused acquitted, can that 
same case afterwards be tried and decided in 
another Monthly Meeting, agreeable to any disci- 
pline to be found in our books ? Or, can a prece- 
dent of such case, or such usage be produced as 
having ever transpired in the Yearly Meeting since 
its first establishment ? The appellant thinks not. 

4th Exception. — That a Monthly Meeting cannot 
at once judge of a case, which has not been ex- 
amined by itself or by persons of its own appoint- 
ment. 

And seeing that the investigation and opinion of 
deputed persons, is the lowest evidence upon which 
a Monthly Meeting can safely decide a case of per- 
sonal rights, how can it safely decide upon the opi- 
nion of those whom it never deputed, and especial- 
ly upon the judgment of only two of a committee of 
nine, appointed, not by itself, but by another Month- 
ly Meeting. 

5th Exception. — The complaint was never read 
in Greenwich Monthly Meeting until a few minutes 
before that meeting was called upon to disow^n the 
appellant. And what a claim to divining must a 
meeting make, to determine, under such circum- 
stances, that the report of two out of a committe of 
nine was right, and the seven more intelligent 
members w^ere wrong, seeing that not one then 
present had ever heard the vindication and defence 
of the accused individual, except those two. 

Therefore the appellant thinks such measures 
contrary to all usage and discipline in the Society 
of Friends, and for that reason considers the pro- 
ceedings of Greenwich Monthly Meeting to have 
been, in his case, disorderly, precipitant and arbi- 
trary, if indeed it was in the abstract an act of 



APPEAL. 



189 



Greenwich Monthly Meetmg, a thing very doubtful 
if not unsupportable, even if no appeal, as above, 
had been pending ; and because the question of dis- 
ownment was carried by the voice of seven of the 
complainants, there collected to all appearance for 
the purpose, with one of the Quarterly Meeting's 
Committee, and only two others, common members 
of the Monthly Meeting, who favored the motion, 
the one a brother and the other a son of two 
of the complainants ; in whom could but be seen 
the greatest anxiety that this work should be ac- 
complished, [and by whose bidding, and by w^hose 
assistance, sitting in judgment, it was effected.] 

Hence the Yearly Meeting's Committee, who 
brought this complaint against the appellant with 
two of their near relatives and one other, who 
had claimed to be embodied with the members 
of South Kingston Monthly Meeting, and had there 
acted on the case, w^ere exclusively the body which 
disowned him from the Society, though in the name 
of Greenwich Monthly Meeting, and on their book 
the assumption w^as recorded by the willing hand of 
one of the complainants above referred to ; as also 
w^as recorded the report of the two of South Kings- 
ton Committee, and all W'ith the appearance of 
solemnity, as though it had been the act of Green- 
wich Monthly Meeting, although divers of its mem- 
bers objected thereto. And which report, thus re- 
corded on the book, contained an assertion, " that 
John Wilbur refused to meet with the committee 
on the occasion when desired." But the true state 
of the case was, they never requested him to meet 
with them, nor did he ever refuse to do so. 

6th Exception.— In justification of these precipi- 
tant proceedings, the Monthly Meeting at Green- 
wich, or some of its members, professed to be bound 
by the direction of the Quarterly Meeting to take 
up all unfinished business which they found with 
the records of South Kingston Monthly Meeting. 



190 



APPEAL. 



One of the items was a complaint against a member 
for marrying out of the Society. Another was an 
account of a widow woman for a debt due her for 
keeping the poor, just presented, and which remain- 
ed unpaid. And although Greenwich Monthly 
Meeting was twice applied to for payment, they 
utterly refused to acknowledge the claim or to make 
payment ! The former was not taken up until after 
the appeal was decided, and the latter never was 
paid by them, they taking the ground, she might as 
well apply to another Monthly Meeting as to them, 
so that Friends in the neighborhood felt themselves, 
by the obligations of humanity, bound to remune- 
rate the widow woman. 

So it seems that Greenwich Monthly Meeting felt 
so independent of the Quarterly Meeting's directions 
as to take up only such things as they inclined to 
do, or rather such things as the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee inclined they should do, and to defer and 
refuse such as they inclined to defer and refuse ; 
howbeit, the business which they did take up had 
heen finished by South Kingston Monthly Meeting 
in a most dehberate manner. * 

Consideration of the complaint of the Yearly 
Meeting^s Committee, to South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting against John Wilbur : brought to view by 
quotations and replies. 

They say, " John Wilbur has departed from the 
good order of our society, in the disrequard of our 
Christian Discipline." 

This general and leading charge does, and if it 
had been correct, might properly have stood fore- 
most in a complaint to be tried and decided by the 
rules and provisions of the discipline of New Eng- 
land Yearly Meeting, of which the complainants in 
this case are members, and to which discipline they 
also are amenable as well as he, as are all others in 



APPEAL. 



191 



whatever capacity they stand ; whether individual 
or official ; whether Quarterly or Monthly Meet- 
ings ; or whether committees or other officers ap- 
pointed by Quarterly or Monthly Meetings, are all 
equally bound to adhere unequivocally to the usage 
and authority of this discipline; — yes, even the 
Yearly Meeting itself is bound by considerations 
and consequences still more sacred, involving re- 
sponsibilities of a much higher order than those 
which rest upon single individuals, in the keeping 
inviolate its own laws and testimonies, and itself 
faithfully exemphfying, as well as ordering justice 
and judgment to others; for if the Yearly Meeting 
violate its own laws, and continue to do so, the con- 
sequence must be a state of anarchy and confusion, 
unless there be more virtue in the members than in 
the body. 

Nor can the Yearly Meeting itself invest with 
any authority whatever any special body, commit- 
tee, or deputation, with power to act or to proceed 
in any manner at all, (as has been vainly assumed 
by the Yearly Meeting's Committee,) touching the 
rights and privileges, or duties of those subordinate 
meetings, or members, in any way or manner not 
strictly in conformity with that discipline, or the 
rights thereby guaranteed to them, or the duties 
thereby enjoined upon them. And when the supe- 
rior meeting, or its deputation attempt more, it will 
directly tend to destroy the compact. 

For in direct proportion to the superiority of 
order in which the different bodies stand, in that 
same proportion will a violation of the usages of the 
discipline tend to mar, if not to destroy, the ground 
work, union, and authority of such religious com- 
pact. 

Hence, we see the responsibility which the com- 
plainants, to wit, the Yearly Meeting's Committee, 
were under, to make the discipline and its usages, 
their guid& and rule of action^ that they mete out such 



192 



APPEAL. 



measure to others as they are disposed to exact of 
them. Otherwise, oven if the supposed offender 
were guilty of a breach of discipline, those who 
attempted to deal with him, would labor but in vain ; 
because he would be likely to say unto them, first 
pull the beam out of thine own eye, &c. 

By the sequel is brought to view an enquiry, 
whether this and other committees and meetings, 
touching the management of this case, and its 
inseparable dependencies, have been careful to 
adhere to our discipline as the conscientious admin- 
istrators of it ? 

And seeing the committee assume for their first 
premises, " Our Christian Discipline," and have 
promptly appealed to it, in condemnation of the 
appellant, peradventure it may not be amiss for him, 
in the outset to introduce and bring to view, some 
of their acts and proceedings in this very case, and 
to compare them with that excellent system of 
Church Government. 

1st. — Did the Yearly Meeting's Committee pur- 
sue the course pointed out and required by dis- 
cipline on pages 33 to 37, previously to entering a 
complaint of detraction against him ? 

2nd. — Did they act in conformity with our rules 
and Christian justice, in withholding from him a 
knowledge of the whole complaint, as they ought to 
have done, agreeable to Christ's directions, before 
telling it to the church? 

3rd. — Did they not compel South Kingston 
Monthly Meeting to an immediate process of deal- 
ing, contrary to the order of our discipline, and the 
rights of individuals, in having a hearing by over- 
seers, and the concurrent voice and help of a pre- 
parative meeting, previous to bringing the com- 
plaint to a Monthly Meeting ? 

4th. — Did not that committee attempt to cramp 
and coerce the Monthly Meeting, by threatening to 
complain of it to the Quarter, if it did not immedi- 



APPEAL* 



193 



iitely^ and without further time for consideration, 
proceed to dealing ? 

5th. — Did they not assume to themselves the right 
and authority of thus ordering such proceedingSj 
the Discipline to the contrary notvdthste.nding ? 

6th. — Did they not afterwards attempt to inter- 
fere with the rights oT South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting in the appointment of its officers ? 

7th. — Did they not join with two disaffected 
members in attempting to bring about a separation 
in that meeting ? 

8th. — Did they not attempt the breaking up of 
South Kingston Monthly Meetings for the purpose 
of perverting judgment ? 

9th. — Did they not advise a member of South 
Kingston Monthly Meeting to wathhold from it its 
property ? 

iOih. — And are not the Qarterly Meeting's Com- 
mittee chargeable with the same offence m a still 
more aggravated form, by coming themselves and 
takino^ our records, and removino; them out of our 
limits, to a place unknown to us ? 

ilth. — Did not the two committees in conjunction 
strive to coerce South Kinp;ston Monthlv Meetino; 
to disown one oi its members contrarv to the re- 
port of its committee of seven Friends, and contra- 
ry to its own judgment ? 

12th. — Did not the Quarterly Meeting's Committee 
require South Kingston lUonthly Meeting, immedi- 
iitely to remove a suitable clerk from the table, and 
to place there one of their own choice ? 

13th. — And to cancel and undo some of its pro- 
ceeding's for near heJf a year past ? 

14th. — And did they not require of that meeting im- 
inediately to annul and make void an act thereof 
recorded two months previous ? — a measure tha.t 
would seriously affect the rights of an individual? 

1 5th. — Did they not, because the Monthly Meeting 
was not prepared to adopt a measure so strange 

9 



194 



APPEAL. 



and unprecedented, without a day's consideration, 
report to the Quarterly Meeting the next week their 
advice to dissolve said Monthly Meeting ? 

16th. Did not the Quarterly Meeting adopt that re- 
port and lay down that Monthly Meeting, and an- 
nex its members to another, and that without a 
hearing, and to the great abuse of the discipline, as 
well as of the Monthly Meeting thus laid down ? 

17. — Did not the Committee of the Yearly Meet- 
ing on the appeal of South Kingston Monthly 
Meeting against that judgment, acknowledge, in 
open Yearly Meeting, w^hen they brought in their 
report, that the jovQceedings of the Quarterly Meeting 
icei^e not conformable to our discipline ? Neverthe- 
less, did not that committee report it as their judg- 
ment that the doings of Rhode Island Quarterly 
Meeting ought to be confirmed ; and rendered as a 
reason for it that the Yearly Meeting's Committee, 
by whose advise South Kingstozi Monthly Meeting 
was laid down, ought to he sustained? Hence this 
appeal was not decided by rules of discipline, but 
by rules of subordination. And the Yearly Meet- 
ing, by the acceptance of that report, and upon the 
ground premised by the committee, have adopted a 
precedent or rule, that the authority of the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee shall be paramount to the 
discipline, and to the authority of all subordinate 
meetings. So that no appeal in future can go con- 
trary to the of that committee. Nor has the 
Society any reason, as w^e conceive, to expect them 
to go back, and hereafter to concede any of their 
powers. 

Which of these acts enquired after, if so, w^as not 
contrary to the spirit and letter of all Christian dis- 
cipline ? 

First item in the complaint, (viz :) " He has 
circulated an anonymous pamphlet which im- 
peaches the character of our Society, and in which 
some of its important doctrinesj as exemplified in the 



APPEAL. 



195 



religious engagements of some of its faithful minis- 
ters are reproachfully held up to view,^^ <^c. 

Reply. The pamphlet alluded to, by the request 
of M. and B. Purmton, who were at the appellant's 
house, was sent by them to J. M, a minister at Pro- 
vidence, with the injunction not to spread it, as 
proved by the committee's own witness. 

And the person to whom it was sent, never made 
any comments upon it, good or bad, in relation to 
its exposure or merits — it came directly home. 

If such be the circulating of that pamphlet, then 
the appellant circulated it ; and then the committee 
are chargeable with circulating it, by handing it 
from one to another. But their motives for doing 
so may possibly have been as pure as his — theirs 
might have been for the purpose of obtaining their 
friends views upon it, and no harm came of it nei- 
ther, as he knows of, although it is evident they put 
it into many more hands than he did, — hence we 
see an entire failure in this charge, as they could 
prove no more than his sending of it to one of their 
own number.* 

The appellant does freely acknowledge that some 
portions of the pamphlet alluded to, are of an im- 
proper character, as will more fully appear from 
the following note, placed by him upon one of its 
pages in writing, before letting it go out of his 
hands. 

" The paragraph thus concluded, appears to have 
been supposed by the writer to be a conclusive ar- 
gument against immediate revelation in the present 
day, to wit : that persons professing to have the 
mind of the good Spirit, should entertain contradic- 
tory viev/s in relation to a proposition. But we 



* This pamphlet consisted principally of an account of the pro- 
ceedings of the Yearly Meetiug and the Select Yearly Meeting of 
London, in the year 1837 — giving a detailed account of the latter in 
its liberation of J. J. Gumey to visit America, 



196 



APPEAL, 



should have supposed that, reason, his governing 
rule, Avould have dictated his conclusion, that if one 
was right the other must be wrong, as both could 
not be right nor both wrong ; as in case of the pro- 
phets who were consulted in the question whether 
the two kings should go to battle against the Assy- 
rians. Ahab's Prophets told him that he should 
prevail ; but Micaiah, the Prophet of the Lord, spoke 
in direct contradiction ; and the result of the expe- 
dition proved who was the true Prophet. Not 
that both were wrong ; nor v/ill it be plead that the 
mere pretensions of the false prophets in that day, 
should destroy our faith in the true, nor in the reve- 
lation of the counsel of God to his faithful ministers 
and servants in any day. See account of London 
Yearly Meeting, 1837, pages 76—77." 

And I would ask if the Yearly Meeting's Com- 
mittee placed upon that book any written marks of 
tJieir disapprobation of any passage in it before hand- 
mg it from one to another ? The appellant conceives 
it unnecessary to follow any further, the commit- 
tee's complaint as to this pamphlet, or upon its 
bearing upon the character of any Friend, inasmuch 
as he has not circulated it, and acknowledges parts 
of it to be unsound, and certified it therein. 
Second item in the complaint, viz : 
The ohject of loliich, together with sundry letters which 
he has circulated^ appears to he to induce the belief that 
the concern {the liheration of a minister from England to 
visit this country ,) did not receive the unity of the meeting; 
and that the clerk did not act in conformity with the true 
sense and judgment of the meeting in signing the certi- 
ficatey 

The letters alluded to, when brought forward, 
speak for themselves, and no one has ventured to 
call in question the truth of any account of that 
meeting, that has been produced : but both the 
pamphlet and letters from correspondents, certify 
us that the concern did receive the full approbation 



APPEAL. 



197 



of a part of the meeting ; and probably the clerk 
was correct when he said he thought that the 
greater number of those who had spoken were in 
favor of granting the certificate : which J. "W. does 
not recollect to ha.ve seen disputed in any letter. 
Nor has he ever to his recollection represented the 
case differently. But he has seen it expressed in a 
letter " that the parties were believed to be nearly 
balanced." 

And whether the reasons rendered by some of 
those who objected, for the view which they took 
of it, to wit : the defective character of his doctrines 
was a sufficient reason for the knowledge of that 
dissension reaching America, the appellant will 
leave for those who are concerned for the safety of 
the Society to judge. But he knows it to be the 
opinion of these that the denial of so many of our 
fundamental doctrines by that Friend, is not only 
sufficient cause for the Society at large to know that 
many faithful Friends in that meeting did remon- 
strate against his going abroad, and rendered good 
reasons for it, and did not concede their views from 
first to last. 

And the appellant still deems J. J. Gurney's de- 
nial of our early standard writers, to be a sufficient 
reason for whatever himself has said or done, tend- 
ing as is alleged in this complaint, to close up the 
way of the individual alluded to : and all relating, 
originally and principally, if not exclusively, to his 
defections in doctrine. 

The appellant claims, and has the right to make 
apparent what the ground of his objections to J. J. 
G. really is, and the reasons for the course he has 
taken, and to prove by a reference to his writings, 
that he had good cause for such a course. And this 
committee being bound by our discipline, by our 
doctrmes and our testimonies, cannot deny him the 
good right of making his defence of that course, by 
showing that he had sufficient reason for it ; and 



198 



APPEAL. 



whether those reasons rest upon the personal char- 
acter of the man or upon his doctrines, the result 
will determine. 

When Elias Hicks applied for certificates to 
travel in the latter part of his time, had those 
Friends who felt dissatisfied with him and his reli- 
gious opinions a right to object to his Kberation on 
that account ; and had Friends where he went a 
right to know of that objection, and the ground 
of it ? 

And had they a right to inform one another of 
the unsoundness of his doctrines by way of caution 
against the imbibing of them ? If we have no such 
right now, our case is precarious and alarming. 
Was E. H.'s certificate a protection or foreclosure 
against all inquiries or information in relation to the 
state of his views, which were the same after as 
they were before his liberation? And were not his 
letter to Phoebe Willis and his printed sermons a 
sufficient warrantee for an exposure of his views 
w^hen abroad, though written and printed previous 
to his Hberation ? 

Now, if it be the case that the corresponding 
framework of the Society, throughout all the Yearly 
Meetings and their dependencies is so delicate and 
fragile ; or if it be the case with any one of them, 
that its travelling ministers cannot be called upon to 
give account of their unsound books which they 
had written before their liberation, or for unsound 
doctrines which they held, and continue to hold, 
without an interruption of good faith and a good 
understanding ; then our situation is unpropitious 
and forlorn indeed, and our continuance on the 
primitive foundation precarious and uncertain ; and 
especially now, seeing a disposition prevails among 
us to uphold and defend those persons who do not 
hesitate to deny the soundness of Robert Barclay 
and other standard writers in defence of our funda- 
mental doctrines. 



APPEAL- 



190 



Similar charges to those last noticed are reitera- 
ted through this protracted paragraph, avouching 
the credibility of the person and the auUioritj^ of 
his credentials and accusing the appellant Vv'ith 
want of abidance in the truth, 6cc. But does the 
credence given to the certificates in question, by 
Nev/ England and most other Yearly Meetings in 
America, as in the complaint -set forth, any more 
prove the doctrines of the bearer to be sound, than 
did the credence given to the certificates of Hannah 
Barnard in the Yearly Meetings of London and 
Dublin, and their subordinate meetings, prove her to 
have been sound in doctrine ? 

And were not those who were so adventurous in 
London under those circumstances, as to call in 
question the standing of Hannah Barnard, probably 
as chargeable with a want of abiding in the truth 
he who questions the soundness of L J. G., if the 
accrediting of certificates is to be esteemed as a test 2 
And are not " all faithful Friends'' so earnestly call- 
ed upon and enjoined by our disciphne, (see Book 
of Discipline, page 74,) to bear testimony against 
those w^ho entertain unsound doctrines, (if obedient 
to that injunction.) just as chargeable with a want of 
abidance in the truths because they have done so, 
as is the appellant for the same thing ? It is evident 
by the discipline alluded to, that if any one, no mat- 
ter who, advances unsound doctrines, it is only to 
be m.ade to appear, to entitle him vWio conscien- 
tiously testifies against them, to justification ; and 
not only by the discipline but by its author, the 
truth itself: for the truth always stands opposed 
and always bears witness against false doctrines, 
as abundantly appears in the holy Scriptures. 

The great object of guarding the Society of 
Friends against false doctrines stands over and 
above all other considerations relative to the com- 
pact, because false doctrines make way for and 
have always been succeeded by bad conduct and 



200 



APPEAL. 



pernicious consequences ; whilst a sound faith holds 
together all the members in one, and guards them 
against deviations from Christian rectitude. 

And it is a fact that cannot be disproved ; nor. 
can any one rightfully gainsay it, that the late in- 
troduction of unsound views into the Society have 
been the occasion of the doctrinal dissensions now 
existing in almost all parts of it. 

The Discipline referred to speaks cf the impor- 
tance of steadfastly maintaining our ancient princi- 
ples respecting the doctrines of the gospel, and ear- 
nestli/ recommends and enjoins upon Quarterly and 
Monthly Meetings, and upon all faithful friends, 
to be watchful over our members as regards the 
profession of their faith, &c., and if in any instance 
there should be manifest any deviation from our 
Christian j^^^iciples J in these respects, that they pro- 
ceed to labor, &c." [But according to the reason- 
ins: of the Yearlv Meetincr's Committee, and some 
others, this discipline is in full force upon all, except 
ministers travelling with certificates, and them it 
does not reach, having a Hcense embodied in their 
credentials, which no Discipline can reach, however 
impartial in its operations, or binding upon all in its 
conclusions. Nay, if they have good credentials 
from abroad, they may record their denial of Fox, 
Penn and Barclay, and spread it over the whole so- 
ciety, and yet neither Quarterly or Monthly Meet- 
ing, nor any faithful friend can take cognizance of 
the case ! Old fashioned Quakers had never before 
known snch economy as this, that there are some 
xcho Jiave an exclusive right to hold and publish such 
sentiments as they choose, and that without reme- 
dy !] 

' The respondents are called upon to prove that 
the appellant has said or written any thing which 
was not applicable to the one great object of dis- 
suading the society from imbibing those dividing 
and degenerating sentiments. 



APPEAL. 



201 



And he is not disappointed that the respondents 
do suppose it to be for their interest, and should 
therefore strive to avoid, if possible, any allusion to 
doctrines, because primarily the alleged offence of 
the appellant rested upon the stand which he made 
against those doctrines; hence the obtaining of his 
rights hinges upon the exposition of them, and there- 
fore it would be great injustice to him and to the 
cause, to debar him from canvassing those doctrines, 
inasmuch as the Yearly Meeting's Committee in 
their complaint have taken up the case of J. J. 
Gurney, and have defended him, and in w^hich, if 
his doctrines be fundamentally right, then the com- 
mittee have certainly done right in upholding and 
defending him, and John Wilbur has certainly done 
wrong, and ought to condemn his course. But 
on the contrary, if on a careful investigation of those 
doctrines, and a comparison of them with those of 
R. Barclay, they are found to be fundamentally 
i(;7-07?^, then of course the committee are icrong in 
taking up his, J. J. Gurney's cause, and in defending 
him against those who are honestly concerned for 
the honor of Truth ; and the readiest way, if not 
the only way, to convince these concerned friends 
that they are mistaken, is to go into a deliberate 
examination of the doctrines in question. 

If the Yearly Meeting's Committee do believe, 
as they say, that J. J. G. is a sound friend, with 
their ability to explain and define sound doctrines, 
and the object of reconcihation upon sound princi- 
ples being so exceedingly desirable, why object, 
why not at once accomplish a thing so highly im- 
portant ? 

And if the Yearly Meeting's Committee will show 
him, and prove to him that those doctrines are sepa- 
rately and collectively in accordance with our 
standard writers, then, and under that proviso, the 
appellant will acknowledge the course w^hich he 
has taken to be wrong and reprehensible, and will 

9 



202 



APPEAL. 



pursue his appeal no further, because the whole 
course of his proceedings in this case was under an 
apprehension of their unsoundness. 

But on the contrary, if it is clearly proveable that 
the writings of J. J. G., on some of the fundamen- 
tal points of our principles, are unsound, and such 
as our discipline enjoins on all faithful friends to tes- 
tify against, then it will and must be agreed, that 
his concern in testifying against them is justifiable. 

Now, therefore, let the meeting for Sufferings, or 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee, officially decide 
the question, as they have heretofore been desired 
to do, whether these specified doctrines are in con- 
formity with the doctrines of Fox, Barclay, Penn 
and Penington, and if they do officially and candid- 
ly decide that they are, then I will prosecute my 
appeal no further. But if they find themselves un- 
der the necessity to decide, that some of his doc- 
trines are fundamentally at variance with the doc- 
trines of Friends, and as in duty bound by the Disci- 
pline, report them so, as a caution to Friends against 
imbibing them, then they will have done the same 
that the appellant has done, and will feel honestly 
bound and disposed, as he trusts, to advise the res- 
toration of his right of membership in the Society. 

So this committee, appointed by the Yearly Meet- 
ing, now sitting to decide upon this appeal, if they find, 
by a full and impartial examination that these doc- 
trines are radically defective, then the course which 
the appellant has taken (in all sincerity,) with an eye 
to the safety of our principles and testimonies, will 
be justified in conformity with our Discipline, which 
is decidedly and scrupulously to be the rule and 
guide of all committees entrusted with the society's 
concerns. They are to judge with a righteous judg- 
ment, as I trust they are aware, and to be tender of 
the rights and religious concerns of individuals, as 
well as to guard the society against any infraction 
upon its discipline or testimonies. 



APPEAL. 



203 



But the Yearly Meeting's Committee themselves, 
in their complaint, as it has been seen, refer to doc- 
trines^ to what they justly call some of the important 
doctrines of the Society, charging the appellant with 
having reproached those doctrines, and some who 
hold them, and were fully allowed before the commit- 
tee of South Kingston Mo. Meeting to do what they 
could to substantiate that charge, a privilege which 
the appellant now in turn asks for, for they were not 
only allowed to exhibit their evidence, but to plead 
in support of their complaint in relation to doctrines.^ 

Third item. — -f " That for the want of maintain- 
ing his integrity in that dependence upon the Holy 
Spirit, which would have preserved him in unity with 
Friends, he has indulged in a spirit of detraction, 



• * Here the respondents strongly remonstrated against allowing the 
appellant to represent his case upon doctrinal premises, and con- 
siderable time was taken up in debating upon the question of 
Eight before the Yearly Meeting's Committee on the appeal. The 
-committee did not finally decide it as a question of rights, but of 
expediency, to let the appellant proceed on doctrines^ without in- 
terruption, as a saving of time. 

The Yearly Meeting's Committee not only referred to doctrines 
in their complaint, but did, on all the occasions of the investigation 
before committees, adduce as evidence against him, a letter pre- 
viously written to J. M., one of their number, which was ground- 
ed almost exclusively on doctrines. The producing of this letter 
was truly satisfactory to the appellant, as thereby the complainants 
brought to view, in part at least, the doctrinal ground desired. But 
the advantage which they at first appeared to expect to derive from 
it was this : — -The receiver of it appeared to have kept it pretty 
close, and the writer being desirous that another friend should be 
put in possession of similar information, sent him a copy of it as 
** a copy of a leiter from one friend, to another in his posses- 
sion,'^ and inasmuch as the writer did not inform the second recipi- 
ent that himself was its author, it was inferred by the committee 
that he had intended the receiver should think that others had such 
views as well as himself, but the reader may judge whether this 
manner was pursued by the writer of that letter, to avoid the ap- 
pearance of sell-estimation, or to encompass the judgment of 
another. Be that decision as it may, the letter he believes has 
been in the right place and there put l3y the right hands. 

t No small thing to make so many and such heavy chai'ges against 
a friend unjustly. 



204 



APPEAL, 



171 speaJiiJig and writings hy which the religious 
character of divers friends in our own and other 
Yearly Meetings, has been much misrepresented. 

Some strangers, (and one of them a minister) 
travelling with certificates, fell in at the house of 
John Wilbur, and introduced much conversation on 
doctrines as well as on men and their religious opi- 
nions, making remarks, and in a manner calculated 
to draw conversation from J. W., and as it after- 
v/ards appeared, with an intention to do so, and to 
make use of it to his disadvantage. They also en- 
quired, as he remembers, as to the soundness of 
some Friends here ; and as one or tvv^o of those en- 
quired after, were known to have changed their 
views, and strongly to have sustained Joseph John 
Gurney, these questions were answered conforma- 
bly to those circumstances, and allusion was made 
to the influence w^hich large gratuitous donations 
had produced; as it appeared, on some who had re- 
ceived those gratuities. Before these Friends left 
New England, John Wilbur found that their sym- 
pathies Vv ere with Elisha Bates, lamenting as they 
did, the step which he had taken, viz : being bap- 
tized with Waaler, inasmuch as it led to his being 
separated from Friends, and at the same time strong- 
ly advocated his opinion of the resurrection of the 
body. And one of them finally betrayed his own 
agreement with the Beaconites in their opinion of 
the /)<2?^<2??2oz^7Zif authority and standing of the Holy 
Scriptures. 

Those men, it seems, in a most dishonorable and 
unchristian manner, carried what they had gather- 
ed (though one of them says, they were almost com- 
pelled to do it) to m.embers of the Quarterly and 
Yearly Meeting's Committees, (in full tale if not 
more than measure,) and that without letting J. 
W.know of their intentions, or of suggesting to 
him the least dissatisfaction with any thing he had 
said to them ; so unlike the ambassadors of Him who 



APPEAlw 



205 



said, " If thy brother trespass against thee, go and 
tell him his fault between thee and him alone," &c. 
And if there had been cause for complaint would 
they not have done it ? 

Now, inasmuch as this last mentioned course, as 
directed by the Saviour, was not taken either by the 
strangers, or by the members of the committees, nor 
yet the course pursued, so clearly and fully enjoin- 
ed and required by our discipline to be pursued, be- 
fore a complaint can be brought to a Monthly Meet- 
ing for detraction or defamation^ and inasmuch, too, 
as the words spoken were true, (unless J. J. Gur- 
ney's doctrines are sound Quaker doctrines) no 
such complaint can be sustained by our rulers. 

And how consistent with good practical experi- 
ence is the course pointed out by the Saviour and 
by the framers of our Discipline. A mode by which^ 
it is probable, most of such conversations might be 
amicably understood to the removal of all unplea- 
sant feelings. And if the right course in this case 
had been taken at fir^t, if any uneasiness w^as really 
felt, J. W. has no doubt that such feelings might 
have been removed, if others had no more disposi- 
tion for controversy than himself, or to propagate 
unsound principles. 

When the complaint was first acted upon in 
Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting, and the right of 
objecting to a portion of the committee was claim- 
ed on behalf of the appellant, the complainants did 
disclaim all charge of detraction in their complaint 
against him, and declared that if the word detrac- 
tion was therein contained, it was incidental. 

However it may be with this last declaration, 
they might well relinquish this charge. 1st. Be- 
cause neither themselves nor the w^itnesses they re- 
lied upon had proceeded in the matter according to 
the Christian rule of our Discipline, and 2d, Because 
it was unfounded ; they were unable to disprove 



206 



APPEAL, 



the words spoken, for the reason that they were 
true. 

The apparent object of this disclamier of the 
charge of detraction, was to give a pretext for de- 
nying the appeUant his right of objection to any 
part of the committee.* 

Fourth item. — " That he has made divers asser- 
tions tending to induce dissatisfaction among Friends, 
and with the proceedings o f our Yearly Meeting in 
various particulars, and calculated to produce divi- 
sion therein, and also to disturb the unity of different 
Yearly Meetings, and to alienate the feelings of 
their nieinhers from each other. 

In answer to this it is only necessary now to say, 
that the appellant has no knowledge of giving any 
just cause for such charges, and that he recollects 
no attempt on the part of the complainants, to prove 
them to the committees on the case, appointed by 
the meetings belowf . 

It may be asked, whether the well grounded un- 
easiness which the appellant felt with the publish- 
ed and unretracted doctrinal sentiments of the 
Friend*' to whom the committee have so frequently 
alluded in their complaint against him, (and upon 
which indeed it seems to be principahy founded) icas 
more likely to induce dissatisfaction with the pro- 
ceedings of this Yearly Meeting, to produce division 
therein" or "to disturb the unity of different Year- 
ly Meetings, and to alienate the feelings of their 
members from each other, than was the conduct of 



* Oa the trial before tlie committee of the Yearly Meeting, the 
appellant took the ground that the complainants had relinquished 
their charge of detraction, as above, and the respondents did not at- 
tempt to gainsay it 

t This was stated to the committee of the Yearly Meeting on the 
Appeal to remind the respondents that they now had an opportuni- 
ty to prove those charges, if able to do so, but they made no reply. 



APPEAL. 



207 



the members of this same committee who preferred 
these charges ; in assuming the control of the Year- 
ly Meeting, and so overruling its proceedings as to 
send back without certificates in the year 1843, 
three ministers in attendance from Philadelphia 
Yearly Meeting, and one from Ohio, as well as their 
companions respectively, all of whom were in the 
station of elders except one ; and with the like ex- 
ceptions all v/ere as duly furnished with the neces- 
sary credentials, which were also as " duly present- 
ed, received and accredited'"' as those of " the Friend'' 
first mentioned, thus setting them at liberty for reli- 
gious service therein, " in the full and acknowledged 
character of approved and authenticated ministers" 
and elders of the Society of Friends ?" And 
whether the conduct of the same committee, subse- 
quently, has not been eminently calculated to pro- 
duce the very result which they have unjustly 
charged upon John Wilbur ? In the year 1844, a 
deputation from the same or of the Select Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, mostly composed of the same 
individuals, called on another minister in a.ttendance 
from Ohio Yearly Meeting, also with as full certifi- 
cates from his Monthly and Quarterly Meeting, 
which had been as duly received and accredited, 
and which embraced a prospect of rehgious service 
within our limits, beyond the mere attendance of 
the Yearly Meeting, and informed him that he could 
not travel here unless he would unite with their 
proceeding and comply with their advice to refrain 
from associating with those who were known to be 
dissatisfied with the unsound doctrines of Joseph 
John Gurney, [" the Friend" to whom allusion is 
made in their complaint against J. W.] ^He too, 
was turned back without being allowed to perform 
the visit he had in prospect, and without the usual 
returning credentials ! But these ministers and 
their companions were known to have maintained 
their integrity and allegiance to the original prin- 



508 



APPEAL. 



ciples, order and Discipline of the Society of Friends, 
and ^0 be opposed to the change attempted therein, 
and to the disorder and misrule which followed 
that attempt, on the part of the adherents of Joseph 
John Gurney, the members of this committee and 
rnany others. 

Fifth and last item in the complaint. — That he 
wrote a lettei^ to one of the committee^ in which he 
made unjust insinuations, and preferred charges 
against them, which they deny in point of fact. 

The letter here alluded to, written to the Select 
Quarterly Meeting's Committee, is as follows, being 
now prefaced by a few introductory remarks. 

When sentiments are spread in the Society by any 
of its members, which strike at the root of its fun- 
damental doctrines, and properly coming under the 
character of '"pernicious books," how important 
that all into whose hands these works may be likely 
to come, should be told of the dangerous tendency 
of the views therein contained. And what minister 
or elder, overseer or parent, concerned for the safe- 
ty of the flock, can feel himself, (as one that is to 
give account^ acquitted from the blood of the inno- 
cent, without faithfullv detecting^ the evil which he 
IS given to see, and warning them against receivmg 
the misleading sentiments as well as against read- 
ing the books which contain them. 

It was under impressions like these that the writer 
of the following letter consulted, by way of corres- 
pondence, divers ministers and elders on the sub- 
ject, and endeavored to discourage others from ad- 
hering to doctrines of this description, now spread 
abroad among us. 

This testimony, he believed it to be his religious 
duty to bear, and in doing w^hich his peace, as he 
apprehended, was concerned, " as one that is set 
for a defence of the gospel," however unworthy, 
and did on many occasions, though not so faithfully 
as the truth dictated, point out to his friends some 



LETTER TO T. A» 



209 



of the errors to be found in certain books purport- 
ing to be Friend's doctrine, but tending to lead them 
astray, and to warn them against the adoption of 
such opinions, a course which it seems, gave offence 
to some of the Friends of the author of those books* 
And of a committee appointed in Rhode Island 
Select Quarterly Meeting in the 5th month, 1840^ 
most of the number proved themselves to be of this 
description. And, however, the committee was ap- 
pointed professedly for the purpose of restoring 
unity in one or two select meetings, whose account 
expressed a want of it. Yet this committee, going 
entirely in another direction from the business of 
their appointment, as well as beyond any authority 
with which our disciphne clothes them, they arrest- 
ed the writer, relative to his proceedings touching 
those unsound doctrines, entered into judgment and 
attempted to lay the restraint of their advice upon 
him, to wit : " To stay at home and to be quiet,'^ 
and that without allowing him to exhibit evidence 
to show that he had good cause for the course he 
had taken ! 

This unauthorised injunction of the committee, 
and their refusal to hear evidence which he offered, 
suiTxCient to exculpate him from all blame, gave oc- 
casion to him to address to them the following let- 
ter, a few weeks afterwards, directed to the first 
named on that committee : 

LETTER. 

HopKixTox, the 30th of 5th mo., 1840, 
To my dear friend T. A, : 

After thus allowing time for solid deliberation on 
the subject of discussion vvith friends at thy daugh- 
ters, it seems right for me to address a few lines to 
thee in relation thereto, inasmuch as I had not full 
opportunity in the end to speak iox myself, by rea- 



210 



LETTER TO T. A, 



son of the claims of others on the time, as well as 
the want of time ; thou wilt, I apprehend, allow me 
the opportunity of reviewing it in this way, and to 
remark further upon the charges brought against 
me, and as I trust, will hear me patiently, seeing 
that vastly more is involved in the consideration of 
the question than merely the exculpation or con- 
demnation of an individual, without allowing him 
the right, both civil and religious, of a defence, not 
only of himself, but of the testimonies and usages 
of the society, such as truth and justice call for. 

Thou art well aware that even in the civil de- 
partment the laws of the land allow the accused a 
defence of himself in all the bearings of his case, 
and not only so, they premise if need be, that he 
should be provided with counsel, lest unhappily the 
innocent should be adjudged guilty. And in the re- 
ligious department thou wilt agree that a still higher 
and purer order of justice and righteousness is con- 
templated, for beyond all controversy, such is the 
true character of Christianity, and its superiority 
over every other system of moral or civil order in- 
stituted by the children of men. 

But when we become acquainted w^ith the his- 
tory of ecclesiastical transactions since the Chris- 
tian era, we are bound to acknowledge that the 
civil has never been more abused than the religious, 
under the dominion of power. 

But to come directly to the question, and the 
capacity in which friends acted, I deem it right for 
me to remark, that I might suppose they acted as 
individuals under an apprehension of the necessity 
of the case, and not as a committee of the Select 
Quarterly Meeting, for the appointment of the 
committee was grounded, and only grounded, (if I 
understand it,) upon deficiencies represented in the 
answers to the queries from the subordinate meet- 
ings, and consequently, friends could not as a com- 
mittee of that meeting, extend care to any meeting, 



LETTER TO T. A. 



211 



or to a member of it, which gave no account of 
deficiencies in relation to things queried after ; and 
no tangible inference can be drawn from that of 
South Kingston, (however it may be in others.) that 
there does any w^ant of harmony or unity exist in 
that meeting; and which I esteem as a favor, for 
which we are bound to be thankful. But 1 am 
entirely prepared to say, that I ever hope to be 
willing to receive advice either from committees or 
individuals, acting conformably to the mind of truth, 
and the order established in our society. 

But are friends now prepared to evacuate the 
ground which has been taken, viz., that a certificate 
for a man to travel as a minister is a fall defence to 
him, against all comers in relation to whatever may 
have transpired previous to the issuing of that cer- 
tificate ? Or wall they say that the deputed right 
of one body shall be regarded, and that of another 
may be disregarded and contemned ? And does it 
rest with committees or others not delegated for 
that special -purpose^ by the Yearly Meeting itself, 
to arrest the established right and order which that 
body has conferred upon its subordinate branches ? 
Or shall these things yet rest upon their ancient 
foundation and usage, that when a minister, though 
liberated by an authorized body, is found defective 
either in /az7A or conduct, and for which satisfaction 
has not been made, that he shall be liable to be 
called to an account, by those whose constituted 
duty it is, under whatsoever circumstance he may 
have placed himself, or others may have placed 
him ? 

By this rule, my dear friend, I am entirely wil- 
ling to be tried and judged, but not upon mere hear- 
say, or vague allegations and reports — not for the 
alleged faults or imprudence of others ; nor yet with- 
out a hearing upon the great point and premises of 
the case, to wit : the stand which I have taken 
against the erroneous doctrines which are spread 



212 



LETTER TO T. A. 



abroad among us by their author, both before and 
since his hberation for our land. And whatever I 
have said or done in the case, relates unequivocally 
to those doctrines ; and consequently, the merits or 
demerits of that course rests upon the soundness or 
unsoundness of those doctrines, as will be shown 
further on : and I hesitate not to say, that the present 
dissension in the society at large, is the legitimate 
fruits of the circulation, and the Author's continued 
adherence to the doctrines alluded to. And my 
concern has been (as I told Friends when together,) 
that those sentiments might be clearly developed 
and faithfully reprobated, so that the fearful conse- 
quences of such dissension might be obviated. 

But if these baneful doctrines, or their unrelenting 
Author, which is the same thing, are continued to 
be advocated and defended, we have reason to fear 
that serious difficulties will ensue ; because there is 
no doubt there are some, and perhaps not a few in 
this Yearly Meeting, who cannot be brought to the 
adoption of such sentiments, come what may come. 
And inasmuch, as great wrong has been inflicted 
upon the truth, and its principles, v/ho, thinkest thou, 
my dear friend, will find the most peace of mind in 
the result of things ? Will it be those, who out of a 
good conscience have withstood those innovations, 
(though perhaps not always in the most perfect line 
of Divine wisdom,) or those who have defended 
such views by strenuously advocating and warmly 
defending, and thereby giving strength to their 
Author ; and by endeavoring to put down those 
who have honestly withstood his sentiments 

How any can defend an unsound man^ at the 
expense and rejection of those who are sound, and 
yet be actmg upon sound principles, is a problem 
which I very much desire to see demonstrated, if 
demonstrated it can be. 

I will now remark upon the charges brought 
against me, and however so trivial as some of them 



LETTER TO T. A. 



213 



are, and so unreasonable as others appear to me, 
yet as they have been deemed by mmisters and 
elders to be worth naming, they will be recognized by 
way of a defence and apology, for the course I have 
taken. 

1st. That I have frequently in conversation and 
in writing, reprobated some of the statements of J. 
J. Gurney, and even on some occasions when abroad 
in the mmistry. To this charge, so worded, I con- 
fess guilty, if guilt is attached thereto, and in re- 
marking upon it, I v/ill first ask thee Thomas, whether 
thou will admit that a professed minister abroad, 
could be chargeable with doctrines so dangerous as 
to w^arrant such procedure ? 

2d. Whether the doctrines of Hannah Bernard 
and Elias Hicks, were so exceptionable as to war- 
rant a watchword to the churches under similar 
circumstances ? 

3d. Whether Moses and the Prophets were war- 
ranted, in so full and so public a manner, as they 
often did, in testifying against the abuses of the 
doctrines and commandments of the former cove- 
nant ? 

4th. Whether the apostle Paul and George Fox 
did right in pubUcly withstanding and marking 
those, who caused divisions by introducing doctrines 
contrary to the doctrines of Christ ? 

The Apostle, it seems, in his public epistle, en- 
treated his brethren, without distinction of age or 
standing, and without exception to any circumstance 
to mark those w^hich cause divisions and offences, 
contrary to the doctrines which they have learned, 
and to avoid them. Rom. 16: 17. And so we shall 
find if we examine the Holy Scriptures, that both 
prophets and apostles were prompt and vigilant, in 
detecting and exposing, as well as in exterminating 
every thing w^hich stood at variance with the Lord's 
doctrines and testimonies, whether seen in kings, 
princes, or prophets, (however reprehensible such 



214 



LETTER TO T. A. 



detection was deemed by those in power,) a pro- 
cedure led to by the mspkation and commands of 
God. For it was seen then as it in some degree is 
seen now, that human nature is so prepense to ease, 
and to overlook the needful restraints of true reli- 
gion, that a guard against the inlet of evil was con- 

tinuallv needful. 
•I 

But one of our Friends said, that he acknowledged 
the doctrines in question were very unsound, but 
afterwards said he thought we ought to give a pass 
to their Author. But truly he could not have meant 
to have been understood to say, that the Yearly Meet- 
ing ought to give him a certificate of unity, for in so 
saying, he would exhibit an opinion different from 
that of the Apostle, when he was speaking of those 
who brought in doctrines contrary to the doctrines 
of Christ ; for, said he, " He thatbiddeth him God 
speed, is a partaker of his deeds." 

2d charge. That I knew the Yearly Meeting's 
Committee were unwilling that I should travel in 
the ministry, therefore, I ought not to have gone to 
Philadelphia. To which 1 need to say no more 
than to refer to thy expression to a friend — to Thos. 
Rowland's own hand-writing, and to J. M.'s to me 
at Dover Quarterly Meeting, all amounting to this, 
that the committee had no desire to stop my going 
on the proposed visit ; besides which, I had never 
heard from them- — how then could R. say so? 

3d charge. That they understood that 1 had favor- 
ed the idea of a division of the Yearly Meeting, 
and which was so fully answered at thy daughter's, 
viz.: That no one among us, to my knowledge, had 
labored more to keep Friends in New England to the 
one faith, even to that alone which would keep us 
together, and prevent our being scattered ; [show- 
ing] that a disagreement in principle is the root of 
schism. 

4th charge. That I have companied with some 
young men, who have made a stand against the 



LETTER TO T. A, 



215 



unsound sentiments of J. J. Gurney, and to which 
I confess judgment ; and that I have also companied 
with some w^ho are not young, but have the same 
opinions of the same man. But I would say, that I 
beheve these with whom I have companied, and 
w^ho have taken the same ground w^ould not suffer 
in point of character in a comparison with others. 

5th charge. That I suffered T. B. G. to go with 
me, as companion, to Philadelphia. That he w^ent 
in company with me, as did divers other Friends, I 
acknowledge, but that he went with me as a com- 
pardon^ in the way that this phrase is understood by 
Friends, is altogether unfounded ; nor did he pass 
for such at any place w^here we w^ere ; nor G. F. 
R. neither, though he lodged with me every night 
at Philadelphia, and is also a sound Friend : nor am 
I ashamed to be in company with either of them, 
although neither of them may be without his faults 
— nor yet myself — did not think of its being any 
disgrace to be seen with them. 

6th charge. " That I suffered letters and extracts 
from John Barclay and Ann Jones, to pass through 
my hands to others." In answer to this, I would ask, 
whether it would be more harm to quote English 
authority against very unsound doctrines, or to quote 
English authority in defence of very unsound doc- 
trines ? And I would ask again, whether there has 
not been a great deal done throughout our settle- 
ments in America, in spreading English and other 
letters in commendation of this very unsoujid man 1 
I say unsound man^iox he yet adheres to his unsound 
doctrines. Again, whether thy colleagues are so 
much dissatisfied, and do find as much fault with 
letters which go to give currency to the Author of 
these very sound doctrines, as they do with letters 
which go to expose and detect them ? 

7th charge. " That I said to N. M., that J. J. Gur- 
ney, would not dare to come to New England." 
Now we know the difHculty always attending that 



216 



LETTER TO T. A. 



of proving a negative : — but I will say, that I was 
at M.'s, and probably said something in relation to 
the man ; but in how many and what kind of words, 
I cannot now recollect ; however, as I know that I 
never had the least expectation of our escaping a 
visit from him, it looks so altogether unlikely that I 
used that foi^m of woixls^ that I feel safe in demur- 
ring to the charge, however little or nothing could 
be made of it, if I had so spoken, more tlmn that I 
was mistaken. 

Now if we take all these accusations into view, 
my dear Thomas, which of the things complained 
of, would not be effected in point of right or wrong, 
either by the soundness or unsoundness of the doc- 
trines of J. J. Gurney ? When you say that I have 
spoken against his doctrines — that I have written 
against his doctrines — that I have suffered to pass 
through my hands, letters which go to discourage 
the imbibing of his doctrines, and to warn of the 
consequences of doing so — that I have companied 
with others who protest against his doctrines, you 
say truly, and yet wonderful it is to hear you fur- 
ther say, that his unsoundness of doctrine has nothing 
to do loith my defence for d.oing so ! ! ! And as 
wonderful that pertinent evidence offered in defence 
of the rectitude of the course taken, sufficient to 
exculpate from blame, thy correspondent should be 
refused ! ! ! I say sufficient, because the refusal of 
hearing that evidence, probo factum, gives to me 
the right of this assumption. 

But you seem inclined to resort to the abstract 
doctrine, that a certificate from a corresponding 
body or Yearly Meeting, ought to defend him 
against all charges for wrongs done previous to the 
date of that document. For a full refutation of 
which position I refer to my letter to John Meader. 

But inasmuch as some continue to advance, an 
abstract proposition, you will admit an abstract 
solution. 



LETTER TO T. A. 



217 



In the civil department we are an independent 
nation, yet are on good corresponding and commer- 
cial terms with Great Britain : and let us suppose 
that one of their trading vessels, had heretofore, by 
means of an inclination thereto, and a strong armory, 
made many captures, and had committed many 
wrongs upon the rights and property of the Amer- 
ican people. 

However, in process of time, the same vessel, 
having escaped retribution, obtains regular papers 
for a general trading voyage to our land. And 
now I would enquire, whether it w^ould be any 
breach of good faith towards Great Britain, civilly 
to ask the commander of this vessel to make repar- 
ation for the w^rongs which he had done us ? Or 
w^hether it would be reprehensible in any of our 
citizens, to speak of the wrongs which that vessel 
had committed upon us, when those wrongs were 
clearly proveable by the register of the vessel, and 
had been fearlessly pubhshed by the commander 
throughout all the trading companies in the coun- 
try ? Or whether it be a breach of faith for our 
government to refuse to give her returning papers, 
and a protection upon the high seas, until she would 
make reparation for the wrongs which she had done 
us ? And inasmuch as worldly property and ci^dl 
rights bear no proportion to religious principles and 
Christian rights, the civil department could not pos- 
sibly sustain an equal loss by means of the strong- 
est ship upon the high seas, as would be incurred 
by our society in the striking out of even but two 
or three of the fundamental and distinguishing arti- 
cles from our confession of faith, as apparently 
aimed at by the person alluded to. But let us stop 
a moment, and enquire whether there have not been 
some depredations committed during the present 
visit. 

First, he justifies his former wrongs w^hich revives 
10 



218 



LETTER TO T. A. 



and restores them to the present tense, and refuses 
to make the least concession of them. 

2nd. And fm^ther, has himself been spreading 
defective books since his arrival in America. I 
saw one which he presented to a friend, with a note 
desiring his acceptance of it, dated Philadelphia, 
8th month, 1837, and signed with his own hand — a 
book recommending a form of prayer, and that of 
pubhc discoursing upon Christianity, distinct from 
the ministry. And this is said not to be a solitary 
instance. And besides his spreading unsound books 
since his arrival, many defective ideas of doctrine 
have escaped him in the Gallery ; the which if col- 
lected with the like industry, as has been obvious in 
some other instances, the catalogue would be very 
considerable. 

Now, my dear friend, pause for a moment, and 
see ; one man can write, and preach, and spread, 
very unsound doctrines, and still receive the warm 
support, or defence of both ministers and elders 
among us ; whilst another, who is afflicted because 
of the jeopardy which awaits our society, by means 
of the spreading of these unsound sentiments, and 
ventures to bear witness against them, is consigned 
to reproach ! However, this case is not entirely 
new ; there have been honest friends heretofore, 
and undoubtedly, better than thy correspondent, 
greatly reproached and defamed for withstanding 
unsound doctrines, and even disowned ; and to what 
extremity this may come, the Lord only knows. 
But there is one thing which I desire, and another 
which I lament. The former is, that I may be 
reconciled to whatever sufferings may be permitted 
to fall to my lot, in the discharge of duty, and my- 
self made to profit by it. The latter is, that I am 
not more worthy to suffer for the truth, and for its 
doctrines, and testimonies. But I might well say, 
that a releasement from labor, if the enjoyment of 



LETTER TO T. A. 



219 



peace and quietness were bestowed, must be es- 
teemed a great favor. 

To be released from the labors and dangers of 
the field, and yet be permitted to divide the spoil, is 
a privilege of God's own conferring. That pre- 
cious peace and quietness, which is the reward of 
honest labor in the field, is nevertheless the fruit of 
his abundant grace : how much more then, that 
which fills the heart with peace and joy in its pri- 
vate exercise and retirement in the house of prayer, 
and under its own vine and fig-tree, must be of 
unutterable love. 

And, however, he who serveth at the altar, re- 
ceives his portion of the gift, yet if God be pleased 
to release, from the service for a time, as he often 
did our first friends ; and though it were by means 
of the secular power ; yet it undoubtedly contribut- 
ed to their furtherance, and greater depth in the 
power of the cross of Christ — his name be praised ! 
And my confidence in thee is such, that it will not 
be periling the pearl to acknowledge to the un- 
bounded grace of a good and merciful God, through 
Christ Jesus, in vouchsafing to his weak' and un- 
worthy messenger in his late journies, a greater 
fullness of strength and understanding in speaking 
of the things of his own kingdom, and power, and 
glory, than he ever saw mete to bestow before : 
and my enjoyment subsequent to many of these 
seasons was inexpressible. And the praise and the 
glory was and is, as I trust, wholly rendered unto 
him, for I clearly saw that it was entirely of him 
and to him, it was rendered, in language both utter- 
able and unutterable. And it has been, and remains 
to be, to me an evidence, not to be despised, that 
my good God has owned and does own my sincer- 
ity in bearing a faithful testimony against every 
appearance of evil," and innovation, upon our 
inestimable testimonies, both in the times of our 



220 



LETTER TO T. A. 



former,* and our present troubles and dangers, 
And that it is his will that I should do so, does 
not rest [wholly] upon his unmerited favors abroad, 
(as evidence) but peace and quietness have suc- 
ceeded to the fultillment of apprehended duty in 
that respect at home. 

Nor was I ever more clearly instructed, than in 
these late journies, in relation to the opening and 
shutting of the fresh springs of the Gospel ministry. 
In one large public Quarterly Meetmg, and in 
several other large meetings, the ministry was to 
me " as a spring shut up and a fountain sealed," 
and for which I could assign no other reason, than 
that the good master ivould have it so. But in the 
same Quarterly Meeting for business, which was 
held the next day, a very unusual flow of the Gos- 
pel life and power (for me) was witnessed in both 
the men's and women's meeting. 

The two or three exceptionable doctrines of J. J. 
Gurney, alluded to above, might be selected from 
the many, under the following heads : 

1st. That the Gospel of Christ, is not in itself the 
powder of God unto salvation. 

2nd, That men are justified by faith without re- 
gard to obedience. 

3rd. That was the true light which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world, he construes to 
mean no more than Christ incarnate, " the enlight- 
ener." Let all imbibe these three items of doctrine 
and Quakerism would be no more. 

Having a little room yet left upon this sheet, I 
will occupy it with a few^ extracts from a piece in 
my possession on Church order, as followeth : 

" It would appear to be at variance with the very 
nature of things, as well as the right order of Church 
government, and the spirit of Christian discipline, 



Hicksite troubles. 



LETTER TO T. A. 



221 



to suppose that a person can place himself, or that 
others can place him under such circumstances, as 
that he cannot be reprehended for a breach of faith 
in the promulgation of sentiments, perversive of the 
estabhshed and fundamental doctrines of a religious 
society to which he belongs. 

" If a way has been found in which a person can 
be securely sheltered and protected, under an obvi- 
ous and public violation of the doctrines of his own 
Society, (without concessions) then, indeed, it would 
seem that innovation upon its principles may be 
considered inevitable, and without a remedy. 

" And if a religious body has no alternative, but 
to unite with and to give currency to the religious 
and official standing of such person, then would it 
be in vain to hope for the preservation of the purest 
system of Christianity, or the best confessions of 
faith. 

" But the truth itself, it is presumed, has never 
placed a man in such a condition that his misgivings, 
whether doctrinal or practical, could not be rightly 
recognized and reprobated, so long as they remain 
unretracted. 

" Hence, it cannot be supposed that any body, 
acting in conformity to the truth, should be under- 
stood intentionally to approve, or give currency to 
doctrines which are at variance icith the truth ; nor 
that any rightly qualified person can be reprehensi- 
ble for detecting wrongs which have been inflicted 
upon the truth, and its principles, and doctrines, as 
exemplified in the Holy Scriptures from the begin- 
ning to the end ; nor do we find in those sacred 
records, that the names of those who had commit- 
ted depredations upon the truth, are spared. 

" By the exercise and dictates of truth's princi- 
ples, it was that good order and wholesome regula- 
tions were originally instituted and established in 
the society of Friends, for the protection and secur- 
ity of its doctrines, as well as for the support of its 



222 



DEFENCE OF LETTER. 



moral economy : hence it is not to be believed, that 
a wise and discreet exercise of that order, can ever 
lead to the strengthening or upholding of error, or 
the justification of wrongs committed against the 
author of that order, to wit : the principle of Chris- 
tianity. 

" Therefore any proceedings under a profession 
of sustaining that order, if their tendency is to 
strengthen the wrongs done to that principle which 
brought all good order into existence ; then such 
proceedings, so far from being the right support of 
good order, are but the abuse of order, and can be 
accounted of no better than an attempt to support 
order at the expense of Principle, the parent of 
order. 

" I am thy Friend, &c." 

A short time previous to an interview with the 
committee, (to whom the foregoing letter was ad- 
dressed,) in the 8th month, 1840, the receiver of it 
took him aside and repeated or read to him the fol- 
lowing sentences, w^hich he said he had endorsed on 
that letter ; but before that interview terminated, 
the same Friend acknowledged that he did not think 
John Wilbur meant to write anything in that letter 
which was not true. 

The endorsement, he believes was this, " I feel it 
incumbent upon me to say, that the premises taken 
in this letter are false, and therefore the conclusions 
are false and unsound." T. A. 

DEFENCE OF LETTER. 

The following extracts from passages in the fore- 
going letter have been referred to by the complain- 
ants, as objectionable ; and are the same designated 
by their pencil marks thereon, and testified by them- 
selves to be untrue : referred to in the complaint as 
being not true in point of fact, and as containing 
unjust insinuations,^^ 



EXTRACTS. 



223 



But on the several trials of the case before com- 
mittees, they have not proved those assertions other- 
wise than by themselves — by a reiteration of the 
same assertions : and when the following defence 
of those passages has been read to the committees^ 
the respondents have never replied thereto. 

EXTRACTS- 

1st. " But if these baneful doctrines, or their un- 
relenting author, (which is the same thing) are con- 
tmued to be advocated and defended, we have rea- 
son to fear that serious difficulties will arise." 

2d. " And by endeavoring to put down those who 
honestly withstand his sentiments." 

3d. " I will now remark upon the charges brought 
against me ; and however so trivial as some of them 
are, and so unreasonable as others appear to me ; 
yet as they have been deemed by ministers and 
elders to be worth naming, they will be recognized 
here by way of defence and apology for the course 
I have taken : first, that I had frequently in conver- 
sation and in writing reprobated some of the doc- 
trines of J. J. Gurney, and even on some occasions 
have spoken against them when abroad in the min- 
istry." 

4th. " But one of our Friends said, he acknow- 
ledged that the doctrines in question were very un- 
sound ; but afterwards said he thought we ought to 
give a pass to their author." 

5th. " That they understood that I had favored 
the idea of a separation." 

6th. " That I had companied with some young 
men, who have made a stand against the unsound 
doctrines of J. J. Gurney." 

7th. " When you say that I have spoken against 
his doctrines — that I have written against his doc- 
trines — that I have suffered to pass through my 



224 



EXTRACTS, 



hands, letters which go to discourage the imbibing 
of his doctrines, and to warn of the consequences 
of doing so — that I have companied with others 
who protest against his doctrines — you say truly, 
and yet wonderful it is to hear you further say, that 
his unsoundness of doctrines has nothing to do with 
my defence ! 

Sth. One man can write, and preach, and spread 
very unsound doctrines, and still receive the warm 
support or defence of both ministers and elders 
among us, whilst another who is afHicted because of 
the jeopardy which awaits our society, by means of 
the spreading of those unsound sentiments, and 
ventures to bear witness against them, is consigned 
to reproach," 

These extracts are considered as follows : 

1. Baneful doctrines. They are thought to be 
so, because directly at variance with Quakerism ; 
and divers of them contradictory to our fundamen- 
tal principles. And being w^ritten by a member of 
our Society, held in liigh estimation by many ; are 
therefore liable to lead away our members unawares 
from the true faith. And if our faith leads to life 
and salvation, that which goes to destroy it, must 
be of a baneful tendency. 

Unrelenting Author, To support the justness of 
this expression, we have no real necessity of doing 
more than to refer to his own, yet unretracted ex- 
pressions on the tliird page of his " Brief Remarks/' 
to wit : " That a few conventional misinterpreta- 
tions have arisen, [among Friends.] and that he has 
a conviction that the sooner such errors are rectifi- 
ed the better ; that he believes these mistakes are 
often found to spread their influence to a great 
extent ; and that they are stepping-stones by which 
many persons may be, in no small degree, assisted 
in an actual descent into HeresyP These errors* 



EXTRACTS. 



225 



he describes, as being conventional or stipulated 
interpretations ; not merely as a slip of the pen or 
tongue of individuals ; and that they remained un- 
corrected errors at the time of this publication, viz., 
1836. And he clears none of our writers from this 
impeachment of error, either ancient or modern : 
but further on, seems to cast the like imputations 
upon Barclay, Penn, and Penington, as he there 
plainly declares that all these authors have their 
defects as well as their excellencies ; and that he 
should not describe Quakerism as the system so 
elaborately wrought cut by a Barclay, or as the 
doctrines and maxims of a Penn, or as the deep and 
refined views of a Penington ; charging their Qua- 
kerism with being defective, and not of an approved 
description ; and by his mode of expression, denies 
their Quakerism to be in accordance with the New 
Testament. 

He thus implicates our early writers as being ac- 
cessory to heresy^ and in a former passage makes 
them chargeable with Hicksism : and thus not only 
betrays unjust but unrelenting feelings tow^ards 
those dignified servants of Christ. To say nothing 
of his vanity, in supposing he understands Quaker- 
ism better than the founders of it, I would observe 
that his use of the word " conventionar makes the 
whole Society accountable as having stipulated the 
errors alluded to. 

Which is the same thing. To advocate a noted 
public doctrinal character, whose views are well 
known, whether he be a Christian or an infidel, is, 
in the common understanding of things, to advocate 
and defend his opinions. He that advocated and 
defended the early Friends, identified himself in 
their opinions, and he that advocated and defended 
Hannah Barnard and Ehas Hicks, did, in the eyes 
of mankind, identify himself in their opinions : 
which opinions, very few if any of their advocates, 
at the time, escaped. 

10* 



226 



EXTRACTS. 



But the expressions, Advocated and defended/' 
were not intended to apply to one set of men more 
than another, but only to those who do advocate 
and defend J. J. G. and his doctrines, or any other 
unsound writer. 

2. A7id by endeavoring to put doii'ji, <5^c. This 
sentence alluded to the injunction laid by the com- 
mittee upon the writer of the letter, viz., to stay 
at home and to be quiet, which injunction was re- 
sponded to by every member of the committee 
present except Andrew Nichols : and if the meaning 
was not designed to tally with the expressions, he 
is willing the committee should explain and inter- 
pret their own words. 

3. Trivial and unreasonahle. The multiphcity 
of the charges evince a disposition in the committee 
to pick up and to bring forward all that could be 
made to look like a fault, (by a good deal of shaping) 
against him. But it will be allowed, that if it be so, 
that J. J. G. is sound in the Quakers faith, then 
truly there would have been some importance in 
one or two charges which they preferred against 
him at our first interviews, (and this is not denied 
in the letter.) whilst the rest would have been of 
little importance, if not very trifling. 

But inasmuch as such premises were wanting, 
the most considerable of those charges were alto- 
gether uncalled for if not groundless, and the rest 
either trivial or unreasonable. And seeing the 
writer of that letter did therein spare them, by 
omitting some of the most minute charges which 
they brought against him in that company of minis- 
ters and elders, he thinks they might have been 
satisfied on that score. 

But now, on account of those objections, he seems 
obliged to bring forward a specimen. One of those 
trivial charges which he omitted (through deference 
to their standing.) to introduce in his letter to them, 



EXTRACTS. 



227 



was this, they accused him of sleeping with a young 
man in New York on his way to Philadelphia, to 
which he confessed guilty, if guilt be attached to 
such a deed, but it was by the desire of the woman 
Friend, of high respectability, who owned the bed, 
and for the reason that she could not then so con- 
veniently furnish another; and never having refused 
in case of necessity, and the young Friend being as 
worthy of my company as I was of his, we did in 
truth, both lodge in the same bed at the same time ! 

And truly he did think this was making a great 
deal out of a little, for so grave a company. Another 
charge was, (and unreasonahle because it was not 
true,) that he had written to a Friend at Scipio, 
conveying (as they said) a long list of extracts from 
Gurney's doctrines, and seemed greatly disposed to 
make a crime of both — the writing to that Friend 
and the sending of extracts. But he had never 
written to that Friend any thing at all, however 
fair his standing was ; still they insisted that he had, 
and disputed him in a manner not very polite nor 
very civil : and altogether, he thought the charge, 
being untrue, was unreasonahle. 

That he had frequently, in conversation and in 
writing, reprobated some of the doctrines of J. J, 
Gurney, and even on some occasions when abroad 
in the ministry. 

They say that this statement is incorrect, because 
their complaint against him was for speaking and 
writing against J. J. G., but not for speaking and 
writing against his doctrines. A distinction, (as 
nice as it is,) which J. W. admits was attempted, 
after he proposed to prove the good cause which 
he had, for the course he had taken, by reading ex- 
tracts from his doctrines, hut not hefore. They had 
previously accused him of " spreading long lists of 
extracts'^ from his writings through the medium of 
letters to divers Friends, &c., which letters he wil- 
lingly refers to, to decide the question in controver- 



228 



EXTRACTS. 



sy, whether it was the person or his doctrine that 
was spoken of to others. 

These letters, (see Appendix.) being matter of 
record, are the evidence which the nature of the 
case calls for, to prove the truth of the things com- 
plained of, whether it is for speaking against the 
man or his doctrines. 

The letters themselves were emphatically charg- 
ed upon him as subjects of complaint, and happily 
they are in being and will decide the question. 

That the writer did ever speak to the disadvan- 
tage of J. J. G., distinct from his doctrines, and 
distinct from the right to dissent from them, yet re- 
mains to be proved. So that if the committee will 
relinquish their complaint against the liberty he has 
taken in dissenting from some of those doctrines, 
and the right of doing so, then they liberate him 
from their complaint of every thing relative to J. 
J. 6., which took place previous to their interview 
with him at Greenwich. And so he feels willing 
they should be at liberty to insist on the distinction, 
or not, as they think best, inasmuch as his language 
now under consideration, correctly defines and ap- 
plies to facts which previously transpired ; that is to 
say, the doctrine, (though not distinct from the 
man,) yet not of the man distinct from the doc- 
trines. 

4th. — Very nnsound. At the first interview with 
the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, at Greenwich, 
when they had accused J. W. of speaking and 
writing against J. J. G., or more truly against his 
doctrines, he proposed reading some extracts from 
his works, to show that his views were unsound, 
and that himself therefore had good reason for 
speaking and writing. To this reading of extracts 
they objected, and said, there may possibly be some 
expressions in his writings which might be deemed 
objectionable ; and in reply to which he said, " but 
I want to show you how unsound his doctrines are,^' 



EXTRACTS. 



229 



when D. B — m replied, (apparently to obviate the 
reading,) "I acknowledge that some of his doc- 
trines are very unsound.'^ J. M., (then sitting be- 
tween J. W. and D. B — m,) gave the latter a jog, 
and in another low tone of voice said, " / should 
not have said so." These expressions of D. B — m 
being recognized in this letter, written a few days 
afterwards, were denied by him at our next meet- 
ing at Newport, and several others of the committee 
endorsed that denial. Here follows G. C. Kenyon's 
testimony : 

*'East GreenwicHj 10th month 9th, 1842. 
" I hereby certify that I was in company with T. 
A., a few days after the interview of the Select Quar- 
terly Meeting's Committee with John Wilbur, at this 
place, in the 5th month, 1840, and he said to me that 
D. B. did acknowledge, during that interview, that 
some of the writings, or doctrines of Joseph John Gur- 
ney were unsound. 

George C. Kenyon." 

Now, at Newport, D. B. said, J. W. is an old 
man and very forgetful, inasmuch as I did not say 
any such thing. And at a meeting at Portsmouth, 
shortly afterwards, the subject so rested on D.'s 
mind that he revived it himself, and explained him- 
self to have spoken at Greenwich on this wise, viz : 
" For argument's sake, I will admit that some of the 
doctrines of J. J, G. are very unsound^ And to 
this version of it J. M. responded and said, " that 
he recollected that this was the way in which D. 
expressed himself." Why then, said J. W., did 
thou jog D. at the time and say, " I should not have 
said so To which enquiry J. M. made no an- 
swer ! Andrew Nichols was then called upon to 
inform what D. B. did say at Greenwich ; and tes- 
tified unreservedly that D.'s expressions at Green- 
wich were the same as inserted in the letter, — that 
the clause, " for argument's sake," which D. had 



230 



EXTRACTS* 



now prefixed to it, were not prefixed to it in the 
first place. The subject was then left. 

Jn the fifth month following, at Greenwich, the 
Yearly Meeting's Committee brought against J. W. 
on behalf of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee an 
objection to the same expression in the letter, as 
being untrue, but no mention was then made of the 
prelude, " for argument's sake." And now again 
the same Friend, Andrew Nichols, so well known 
for truth and veracity, and who had testified so 
clearly to the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, was 
desired to state to the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
what words he heard D. B. express a year ago be- 
fore the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, touching 
the point in question ? He then stated, in the same 
clear and unequivocal manner as before, that D.'s 
words were these, to wit: " I acknowledge that 
some of the doctrines of J. J. G. are very unsound^ 
This objection was then immediately abandoned. 
But subsequently, after some years had elapsed, 
three of the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, (if he 
rightly remember the number) have been so adven- 
turous, and so regardless of a scrupulous care, as 
relates to moral, not to say religious integrity or ve- 
racity, as to come forward and positively to say, 
that J. W.'s assertion of the words " very unsound" 
was untrue By which avowal they also condemn 
Geo. C. Kenyon and Andrew Nichols' affirmative 
testimonies. Had those three negative witnesses 
stated, as all careful, conscientious persons ought to 
do, if so, that they did not recollect or notice such 
expressions at the time, they would have done 



* D. B. was invited to state the conversation before the Commit- 
tee of Appeal at Yearly Meeting. But appeared to have lost his 
recollection almost entirely about it, — said he had kept no record of 
it at any time— rather thought he might say, in the first place at 
Greenwich, that it was probable some would say that J. J. Gumey's 
doctrines were very unsound— cov^ii not remember of saying any 
thing about the subject at Newport or Portsmouth. 



EXTRACTS. 



231 



more honor to themselves and to their cause, and 
would have obtained more credence from others. 

5th. — That they understood he had said^ there 
would he a separation in the Society. Such was 
one of the many accusations brought against him at 
the first interview, and words to that import, amidst 
his fears of the consequences of the sentiments 
abroad among us, have undoubtedly escaped him, 
but upon no other consideration than the apprehen- 
sion of a palpable departure from our doctrines or 
discipline. 

Schisms have heretofore been occasioned by the 
promulgation of unsound sentiments, and by the 
support which has been given to the authors of those 
sentiments. And if the like should occur again, the 
responsibility must rest, as it ever has done, upon 
the heads of those who have denied the faith of our 
fathers, and upon the heads of those who have sup- 
ported and defended such, to the abuse of the disci- 
pline and good order of the Society. 

Within the ranks of this very committee, who have 
been seeking to make the intimation of a separation, 
a crime in John Wilbur, there is to be found, at 
least one, who has, on several occasions, and in re- 
ligious meetings too, spoken in strong terms of a 
silting time and separation to be looked for in this 
Society, and this since the Hicksite schism. 

Those whose living concern is, for sustaining our 
primitive doctrines and testimonies, could have no 
greater joy than to see the whole number disposed 
to refuse and reject all other doctrines and opinions, 
with the holders of them ; and unreservedly to hold 
fast those which can only stand in the one spirit ; 
and therein to abide ; and then there would be no 
rents or divisions among us ; and in this oneness 
would be their rejoicing. 

But on the other hand, as painful as the consid- 
eration is, those who are disposed to lean towards a 
relaxation from first principles ; and to walk with 



232 



EXTRACTS. 



and to support those who are incKned to let down 
primitive Quakerism, and to make the w^ay more 
easy to flesh and blood ; these would fain have the 
ivhole body go ivith them, — would encompass all 
without exception — are not willing there should be 
any testimony bearers left to witness against them, 
or to awaken any trouble or guilt in their con- 
sciences. 

Qih.—That he has comp anted with some young 
men who have made a stand against the unsound 
views of J. J. Gurney. The writer of the letter 
understands that the dissatisfaction of the commit- 
tee in relation to this passage, consists in the manner 
of designating the persons alluded to, but not in the 
identity of them. It is true that his manner of de^ 
signation was different from theirs, yet plainly dis- 
tinctive of those alluded to. They call them, if his 
memory serves, as he supposes they have called 
him, " opposers of good order," or, " the order of 
Society," whilst he alludes to them as those who 
have made a stand against the doctrines of J. J. 
Gurney — that they have made such stand no one 
will deny, and that the making of that stand has 
drawn down this reproach upon them is equally 
true. Nor can the author of the letter, on that ac- 
count, bo readily made to call them disorganizers ; 
for our rules require such a stand. 

7th. — When you say that I have spohen against 
his doctrines, <^c. This passage recapitulates the 
principal heads of the charges noticed in the letter, 
and recognizes the substance of the writer's pro- 
ceedings most complained of by the committee in 
language applicable to the state of the case. The 
description of the letters referred to, from John 
Barclay and Ann Jones, being in his own language, 
as they were not described by the committee, as he 
recollects ; and for the correctness of that descrip- 
tion the letters themselves are appealed to, and if 
desired will be produced. 



EXTRACTS. 



233 



And here he would ask, what it was for^ that the 
committee in the first place arrested and reprehend- 
ed the writer of that letter, and essayed to lay a 
prohibition upon him ? Was it for speaking against 
J. J. G., distinct from his doctrines ? No — certainly 
it was not ; for they had never any evidence of his 
doing so, nor claimed any ; for when impressively 
importuned to advance evidence of such expres- 
sion, if known to them, they have not at any time 
made such attempt. But nevertheless, when they 
say in an unqualified manner, that he has spoken 
and written against J. J. G., he does not charge 
them with being incorrect, because then he under- 
stands the manner of expression to refer to J. J. 
Gurney's whole public character, including the 
person with his sentiments. But if his sentiments 
are not included, then their complaint is without 
foundation, and the writer's impeachment at an end. 

Hence it did seem wonderful to him that the 
committee could say that the unsoundness of J. J. 
Gurney's doctrines had nothing to do with J. W.'s 
defence, and should refuse the introduction of them, 
as oflTered for showing his duty, in the course he 
had taken. 

But the complaint of the committee against him 
was, for saying something — for saying what? 
Something either in favor of or against a Friend. 
There has been much said by most Friends concern- 
ing him. But to ascertain whether for or against, 
the words spoken must be adduced, and no judg- 
ment in a court of judicature for defamation, with- 
out the identical words, either proved by the plain- 
tiS. or acknowledged by the defendant, can be ren- 
dered. 

But when the defendant acknowledges the words 
charged upon him, and oflFers sufficient evidence to 
prove that he had good cause for saying the things 
complained of, and that they were known by a great 
number of credible men to be true, and that the di- 



234 



EXTRACTS. 



vulging of them was needful for the safety of the 
community. Then, if the court refuse to hear that 
evidence, and proceed to render judgment against 
him, should we not suppose that refusal to be un- 
just, and the judgment rendered, cruel and arbi- 
trary, and subject to a reversal. 

8. One man can write, and spread and preach 
very unsound doctrines, <^c. This passage was 
marked as objectionable, and so testified against ; 
but whether the expression of unsound doctrine, al- 
luded to, or whether the expression of warm sup- 
port and defence by ministers and elders in our So- 
ciety, or both, is the cause of uneasiness, the writer 
did not understand. That the person alluded to 
has promulgated doctrines very much at variance 
with Quakerism is easily proved, and was offered 
to be proved to the committee, but they had not 
ears to hear it. And that he has been warmly sup- 
ported and defended by ministers and elders in 
many places in our Society, is too well known to 
require a proof.* That the writer of the letter un- 
der consideration (and as he thinks, because he has 
borne witness against those doctrines) has been made 
a subject of censure and reproach, is undeniable. 

And in conclusion, and by way of explanation of 
one point in question, the writer will say, that in the 
composition of his letter to the committee, he had 
no intention of charging them with unsound doctrine, 
nor yet to have recognized their having committed 
themselves in any religious sentiments more excep- 
tionable than those of Joseph John Gurney, and to 
which it appears, by the foregoing record of the 
proceedings of the Quarterly and Yearly Meeting's 
Committees, who met at Greenwich 5th month, 4, 



* R. G. did, before the committee at Greenwich, on the 4th day 
morning , 5th month 5, 1841, warmly support and defend the charac- 
ter of J, J. Gurney, and unsparingly placed high enconiums upon 
him. 



REASONS, ETC. 



235 



1841, that they were ready to respond, and did re- 
spond to the doctrines in question at that time. 

REASONS 

Why J. W. wrote the letter to T. A. as one of 
the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, and why it 
ought not to be destroyed as desired. 

1st. He wrote it because the committee gave him 
occasion for it by bringing charges against him for 
things which were not reprehensible, and because 
they refused to hear good and essential reasons in 
defence and vindication thereof, a resort to pen and 
paper was necessary to show his reasons for the 
course he had taken, and to clear himself from un- 
just imputations which they had cast upon him. 

2d, Because they reprehended him for making a, 
stand against J. J. Gurney, or more truly against 
his doctrines, and which doctrines being perversive 
of Quakerism, his loyalty to the cause demanded a 
defence of that cause in exposing those doctrines, as 
well as for the defence of our principles. And, 
moreover, the very circumstance of a committee 
from a Quarterly Meeting of ministers and elders 
so coming out in defence of a man of such doctrine 
as to arrest a friend in so formidable a manner for 
exposing such doctrines, did, in the apprehension of 
the writer of the letter in question, call for a suita- 
ble examination of the subject for the Committee's 
consideration. 

3d. Because, as he conceives, the committee had 
no authority, by virtue of their appointment, or 
by virtue of the Discipline, order and usage of the 
Society to arrest him, and to pursue such measures 
with him as they did at Greenwich 5th month, 1840, 
gratuitous and uncalled for. Hence, for one in the 
station of a minister, bound by his calHng to the 
Law and to the Testimony, silently to submit to 
such attempts to deprive him, or the Monthly Meet- 
ing to which he belonged, of those rights which that 



236 



REASONS, ETC. 



order and discipline, as well as the truth itself, has 
confided and secured to him as a member and minis- 
ter in the Society of Friends, and to his Monthly- 
Meeting, as authorized judges of such concern. I 
say, a silent submission to such gratuitous interfe- 
rence, could be deemed no less than a virtual sur- 
render and abandonment of the rights of the Disci- 
pHne and usages which the Yearly Meeting itself 
has ordained and confirmed as a standard of pro- 
ceeding throughout all its subordinate branches. 
Of which rights and usages no Friend, or body of 
Friends, whose authority is inferior to the Yearly 
Meeting, can deprive them otherwise than by chan- 
nels prescribed by the Yearly Meeting. 

4th. Therefore he ought not to consent to the 
destruction of it (or the copy in his hands) in con- 
formity to the wishes of the Committee, because 
such a step would be deemed not only a concession 
of the course which he had taken, but also a con- 
cession of the doctrines which he had thereby been 
defending. And because he would then be impli- 
cated, if not reported abroad, as having thus con- 
ceded the doctrines of ancient Friends, and to 
have admitted the doctrines of J. J. Gurney. 

5th. That he had no occasion in this way to 
abandon this letter, because the sentiments therein 
contained are correct and tenable. 

6th. It ought not to be destroyed by the writer 
because the committee have reported abroad that 
the premises therein taken are "false and unsound," 
and therefore if destroyed by his consent, it would 
follow that whenever the writer should be called 
upon by his friends, either at home or abroad, to 
give an account of himself in relation to it, the pre- 
dicament in which he would then be placed would 
be exceedingly unfavorable, inasmuch as he would 
thereby, in a very exemplary manner, condemn his 
own attempt to uphold the usage, order and doc- 
trines of Friends. 



REASONS, ETC. 



237 



7th. Because the committee, or a member of it, 
has endorsed the charge of falsehood upon it, there- 
fore to consent to its destruction at any rate, but 
more especially until that endorsement is removed, 
would be deemed, (and not very unreasonably) ac- 
ceding to the infamy thereon unjustly placed. And 
inasmuch too, as that charge v^as reiterated and at- 
tempted to be enforced by the committee in South 
Kingston Meeting of ministers and elders, although 
they utterly failed in the attempt. 

8th. Because no one of the committee has at- 
tempted to refute it by fair and honorable argu- 
ments in the same way, with ink and paper, most 
easily done, if it be as exceptionable as they affirm 
it to be, agreeable to the maxim, viz : " The more 
exceptionable the argument, the more easy and 
tenable its refutation." 

9th. Because, if the letter should become extinct, 
and therefore could not be appealed to, then those 
who have a disposition to condemn it, can place 
their own censures and constructions upon it with 
impunity, and without fear of detection, because the 
negative of their assumption could not be proved 
by oral testimony, nor by any other means, without 
the letter itself Hence it was not without cause that 
the committee was so anxious for this letter to be 
destroyed. 

The committee to whom this letter was written, 
were, as heretofore stated, ostensibly appointed on 
another account, to wit : the want of unity apparent 
from the answers to the queries from Rhode Island 
and Providence Monthly Meetings, and as from the 
committee's own confession, they have never attend- 
ed to those reported deficiencies; it is altogether 
presumable that those answers were so made out 
at that time, and sent up for the especial purpose of 
obtaining the appointment of a committee for ar- 
raigning John Wilbur ; and this is confirmed by the 



238 



TRUTH ITS OWN DEFENCE. 



fact, that they did arraign him, and did nothing else 
but to deal with him ! 

If those solemnities of ministers and elders, set 
apart, shall have been perverted by a feigned repre- 
sentation, in order to bring about an unsuspected 
process for the annoyance of an innocent brother, it 
speaks both the language of lamentation over the 
leaders of our Israel, and of warning to the people : 
Flee to thy tent, O Jacob ! and to thy Tabernacle, 
O Israel ! 

TRUTH, 

Its own defence under all circumstances. 

The argument advanced, that a minister travel- 
ling with a certificate, how^ever unsound, ought not 
to be detected in that unsoundness, because such a 
measure would hurt his service, and be a breach of 
the order of Society, has already been thrice fairly 
refuted. 

If there is or ever w^as any discipline, or conclu- 
sion of the Society in any part of the world, pro- 
hibiting the detection and exposure of doctrines 
published at large, and fundamentally unsound, the 
writer of these remarks makes this confession, that 
he has never seen or heard of it. 

If one man is more dangerous than another, on 
account of the sentiments w4iich he holds, it is he 
which has the greater intercourse in society and 
with the world at large. 

Although a man may be never so unsound, if a 
solitary character and stationary in the w^orld, or 
known only within a Umited circle, the amount of 
evil proceeding from his opinions, is comparatively 
small. 

But if a man is a public character, is a man of 
influence, is a man of personal endowments and 
attractive manners, both in the public and private 
circles, is travelling in the character of an authorized 



TRUTH ITS OWN DEFENCE. 



239 



minister, and mingling with the Society generally, 
what great and powerful advantages for the diffusion 
of his opinions are in his possession. How easily 
is his whole character impressed upon the multi- 
tude ! And how full the esteem and credence which 
he easily obtains, insomuch, that notwithstanding 
he holds doctrines fundamentally unsound, great 
will be the difficulty of convincing his personal ad- 
mirers of his heterodoxy in principle, and so it will 
prove too generally, that those who are attracted 
and drawn to his person, are prepared by degrees 
to receive his doctrines. 

How needful, therefore, if a man of such influ- 
ence and notoriety in the society, is known to he un- 
sound, if it is known by his own unretracted decla- 
rations, that his sentiments are perversive of Quaker- 
ism ; I say, how needful that those who are called 
and appointed to watch over the flock, " as they 
that are to give account," should warn that flock of 
the dangers which they themselves have seen. 

But it has been advanced by some of the members 
of the meeting for Suflerings, that no one has a right 
to gainsay the doctrines of such person, however 
unsound, until that body* has decided them to be at 
variance with the doctrines of Friends, a rule and 
assumption w^hich it is believed was never before 
suggested or claimed by members of a meeting for 
Sutferings in any part of the world, to the exclusion 
of other concerned Friends, unless it was so by 
those who finally seceded from our principles under 
the apostacy of Elias Hicks. 

The overpowering strength of the defective mem- 



r * Subsequently, some of the doctrines published by J. J. G. 
were laid before the meeting for Suffeiings, and that body desh'ed 
to examine them, and decide upon their orthodoxy, but that body 
declined such exammation, and members of it rendered, as a rea- 
son for thus declining, that ihey were not authorised to determine 
upon any doctrines already printed. 



240 



TURTH ITS OWN DEFENCE. 



bers in the meeting for Sufferings in New York, at 
that time., is well known, and for which reason no 
strictures upon the unsound doctrines, then making 
their way in the Society, could be carried through 
that body. But will any one among us now say, 
that no individual therefore had a right to gainsay 
the doctrine of Elias Hicks ? 

And were Isaac Stephenson and Samuel Wood, 
while travelhng with certificates in New England, 
chargeable with a breach of order for exposing the 
doctrines of Elias Hicks, because the latter was at 
the same time travelling with a certificate to the 
westward ? The same question might also well be 
asked with relation to George Withy and Thomas 
Shilletoe, and others, about the same time, for expos- 
ing the same doctrines, under the same circum- 
stances. 

These arguments are not here advanced by way 
of charging any one with Hicksism, or any other 
unsound doctrines, but to evince that such a rule 
would be extremely absurd if ever adopted by the 
Society, and also contrary to the Apostle's injunc- 
tion to all the members of the church at Rome, with- 
out distinction, " to mark them which cause divi- 
sion and offences contrary to the doctrines which 
they had learned, and to avoid themr 

Hence, is not the question well decided, that at 
the very least, any well concerned, sincere mem- 
ber of the Society, has a right to call in question 
such doctrines, advanced by any one, provided 
those doctrines are tangibly unsound, let the circum- 
stances attending the holder of those doctrines, be 
what they may. I repeat it again, let those circum- 
stances be what they may, because the safety of 
the whole Society is of immensely greater conse- 
quence than the standing or reputation of an indi- 
vidual. And as it has been shown, as above, the 
greater danger for travelling ministers, to be un- 
sound, than for others, the more necessity therefore 



TRUTH ITS OWN DEFENCE. 



241 



arises for their detection, if such be the case with 
them. 

It has been said that to gainsay the doctrines of 
a travelhng minister will hurt his service — hurt his 
service? But it may be asked, whether any one 
who is fundamentally unsound in Christian doc- 
trines, can have any requirement from above to 
perform any religious service in our Society? 

And one more question I would ask, whether any 
member of our Society, (no matter who) xan be 
dealt with in the order of our Discipline for dissent- 
ing from and protesting against doctrines which are 
offered to his acceptance, if he can fairly and clear- 
ly prove those doctrines to be at variance with the 
fundamental doctrines of the Society ? 

Heretofore we have heard of members of our So- 
ciety being labored with for advocating unsound 
doctrines, but never till recently for reprobating 
them ! Whence then this change ? 

Shall those then who publicly do wrong to our 
principles, and demur to our early writers, be eu- 
logized and commended, whilst those who consci- 
entiously detect and withstand those wrongs, are 
reproached and condemned ? 

What a strange paradoxy and inverted state of 
things has now transpired and become popular. 
Can our condition now be like those complained of 
by the prophet, who called evil good and good evil, 
that put darkness for light and light for darkness ? 

Do we not know that a fair examination of the prin- 
ciples of an author reflects upon him only in propor- 
tion to the amount of good or evil inculcated thereby? 

Does he who offers to our acceptance sentiments 
which are at variance with those heretofore ac- 
knowledged by us, at the same time refuse to us 
the right of dissenting therefrom ? 

Whether he be so understood or not, this we know, 
that the Giver of all our rights has not withheld 
this from any of his rational creatures. 

11 



242 



DISCIPLINE EXAMINED. 



DISCIPLINE EXAMINED, 

And other things relative to the controversy con- 
sider ed. 

It is contemplated by our principles and Disci- 
pline, that our ministers should be so careful to wait 
for the Divine anointing, as that their ministry 
should be sound and savory. 

But if otherwise, and their services should unhap« 
pily become burthensome and without hfe ; or, if 
they should evince, either by their preaching, con- 
versation or otherwise, that themselves were not 
sound, either in the gift or in the true faith ; or if 
their life and conversation should not comport with 
their profession, then, in either of these cases, if at 
home, they are to be labored with by the elders of 
the church in a Christian spirit, and if a reformation 
cannot be effected, to be advised to suspend their 
pubhc ministry. 

And moreover, if such things are discovered in 
them when abroad, and continued after due caution, 
it is considered requisite (if the writer of this under- 
stands the order and usage of the Society) that the 
select members do, for the safety of the church, ad- 
vise such to return home. 

But when none of these defects appear, and a 
minister gives good satisfaction in relation to the 
requisite qualifications, both at home and abroad ; 
and on returning from service abroad, brings satis- 
factory testimonials from those whom he has visited, 
then let it be asked, what Friend or body of Friends 
are authorised to interfere with his RIGHTS^ 
or with the RIGHTS of the Monthly Meeting 
where he belongs ? 

But there is another article of advice in our book 
of Discipline, and of sterling import too, which 
should not be overlooked or mistaken, and that is, 
that ministers be tender of one another, and be care- 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED. 



143 



ful not to hurt one another's services, whether at 
home or abroad. But this Discipline evidently con- 
templates and refers to those that are sound in word 
and doctrine, by which Discipline great counsel and 
caution are extended, that ministers should be kept 
so, for if otherwise than sound, it would plainly ap- 
pear that such an one could not be a laborer in the 
field of service, provided the foregoing Discipline 
had been administered according to its intent and 
meaning. 

Hence it is clear, that the latter paragraph of 
Discipline has no such meaning as that a minister 
should not be allowed to recognize and expose the 
sentiments of one claiming to be a minister — senti- 
ments which he had seen to be fundamentally un- 
sound and dangerous to the body. And for this 
reason, because the latter can have no legitimate 
service in the church to be hurt thereby. 

If the latter paragraph were necessarily to be so 
construed, as that one minister had no right to de- 
tect and expose the unsound doctrines of another 
minister, so reputed, lest his character or calling 
should be hurt thereby ; then it would seem that the 
framers of our Discipline had entrapped themselves, 
and thereby jeopardized the safety of the Society 
by means of an oversight in relation to a correspon- 
dency of its parts, so as that it might be laid hold 
of by defective individuals or their Friends, in 
screening them from the due judgment of truth. 

A construction which I deem utterly at variance 
with the meaning of our rules for the preservation 
of harmonious labor among ministers, as for the 
protection of the whole Society against unsound and 
dangerous doctrines, which construction, as well as 
any mistake in the forming of our Discipline, the 
writer is altogether unwilling to allow, because he 
is well assured that the consistency of its provisions 
are plain and tangible, and clearly to be understood, 
that those who are not one with us in doctrine, are 



244 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED. 



not contemplated thereby to be countenanced as 
preachers, or to be abroad as mmisters, and there- 
fore our Disciphne cannot have provided for the 
protection of them. 

But there is still another paragraph of Discipline 
of paramount importance in this case, and which 
settles the question to every intent and purpose, 
and places it beyond all disputation, that all faithful 
Friends, [whether ministers, elders or others,] are 
not only allowed to reheve their minds, when they 
painfully perceive our principles to be invaded, but 
are enjoined and required to be watchful over our 
members who deviate from our Christian principles, 
and to labor with them, let them be whom they may, 
not excepting ministers and elders under any cir- 
cumstances whatever, any more than common mem- 
bers, and that for good reason too, because if they 
should deviate, the more of course the harm that 
must come of it. 

A short time before the separation of the Hicks- 
ites from Friends, a meeting at Purchase, or there- 
abouts, was said to have been attended by Elias 
Hicks, Daniel Wood, and Rowland Greene. And 
immediately thereafter, we were told, that the two 
latter gave ready information abroad, that Elias 
Hicks preached very unsound doctrine at that meet- 
ing. 

Wherefore, let it be asked, whether or not they 
were chargeable with a breach of Friend's Disci- 
pline, as hurting the service or character of Elias 
Hicks ? 

To this question, I apprehend, it will be readily 
answered, that they were not. Why ? Because 
the doctrine of Elias Hicks was believed to be un- 
sound and dangerous doctrine, and that it was 
therefore the duty of those friends, (though minis- 
ters, and out at the same time on religious service,) 
to testify faithfully, both against him and his doc- 
trine. 



DISCIPLINE CONSIDERED. 



245 



But suppose some of the Friends of E. H., under 
the professed authority of a Quarterly Meeting of 
ministers and elders, come forward and call on 
Daniel Wood and Rowland Greene, to give account 
of their proceedings in that matter. Whereupon 
they, the said D. W. and R. G., as an apology, ad- 
vance the above as their plea, to wit : " that the 
doctrines which E. H. preached were very un- 
sound," and propose to state to the committee Elias 
Hick's very words, to show that they had good and 
sufficient cause for the course they had taken. 

Nay, say the committee, we have nothing at all 
to do with the doctrines of E. Hicks, but our busi- 
ness and our concern is for the support of the or- 
der and Discipline of the Society. You had no 
right to open your lips against Elias Hicks. He 
stands as an approved minister, and carries as good 
a certificate as you do ! 

Such was the plea of E. Hicks and his friends on 
all occasions, to avoid an exposure and examina- 
tion of his doctrines, and such is the plea of J. J. G. 
and his friends, to avoid the exposure and investiga- 
tion of his doctrines. 

But the Friends of J. J. G. say, that his doctrines 
are not so bad as those of E. H., and therefore the 
cases are not parallel. But how do we know which 
of the two systems are the most exceptionable, un- 
til the merits of them are examined ? 

Do they choose to determine cases without an 
investigation and without evidence ? 

If there are any who think that J. J. Gurney's 
case is good, why need they fear an examination 
to see whether it be better than that of E. Hicks, 
and how much ?^ 



* lu the adoptdon of a principle of action in such cases, the ques- 
tion rests, not upon the excess of unsoundness, in the one case or 
in the other, but upon the existence of it, in relation to essential 
points. 



246 HICKS AND GURNEY CONTRASTED. 



The parallel of these cases is, then- doctrines are 
both fundamentally unsound and erroneous, and 
the principle on which both of these persons have 
acted, is precisely the same, and that is, manifesting 
a determination to avoid a comparison of them with 
the doctrines of Friends, a course which all who 
have attempted an innovation upon our religious 
principles have pursued, that is to say, all who have 
proposed to themselves to carry the Society with 
them. 

Here then is a sure test of motives, — all those 
writers whose intentions are honestly to set forth 
and to promote the true Christian doctrines as held 
by Friends, have ever been, in all readiness, to com- 
pare their own views with the standard writings of 
our Society. But on the contrary, those whose in- 
tentions are to modify or change the doctrines of 
Friends, have always without exception, studiously 
avoided a contrast of their own sentiments with 
those of the Society. 

On whichever hand, therefore, the intentions of 
such have been " to remove the land marks," their 
aim and manner of doing it have run parallel to each 
other, have been obviously the same, to remove 
them unseen and unsuspected by the members at 
large, whilst he who doeth truth cometh to the light 
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are 
wrought in God. 

Elias Hicks and Joseph John Gurney have both 
professed and declared their own views to be in uni- 
son with the primitive doctrine of Friends in regard 
to the Saviour of men, if not in all points. But 
the former, however, appears to be wanting in 
his fidelity as to Christ's personal coming and attri- 
butes ; and the latter in his fidelity as to his spiritual 
coming and dwelling in the heart of man. The lat- 
ter has the fullest faith in his personal coming and 
atoning sacrifice for the remission of sins ; the 
former as full in his spiritual coming for the reno- 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



247 



vation of the inner man, and a saving of him from 
a continuance in sin. 

But both of these appear to be great debtors to 
the correct part of each other's doctrine ; each ap- 
parently holds to half, and each apparently rejects 
half of the Christian covenant, and therefore hold- 
ing nothing in common with each other in relation to 
redemption by Christ. But still, each (professedly) 
holding to half the covenant in common with 
Friends. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

There are those who have been, and continue to 
be, very liberal in their censures upon those who 
have conscientiously proclaimed a fast from im- 
bibing certain defective doctrines abroad in the So- 
ciety, finding fault with every course they have 
taken in the faithful discharge of what they beheve 
to be their religious duty. At one time averring, 
that however great any evil might appear, their 
manner of exposing it is altogether improper. And 
at another time, charge the \vhole present difficulty 
in the Society, not upon the evil and the authors of 
it, but upon those who expose the evil, and upon the 
manner of doing it. 

And the advocates of J. J. G. further state, that if 
those who reprobate his doctrines had forborne to 
do so, the present dissension would not have exist- 
ed, and things among us w^ould have remained 
quiet. Be it so. And so they might say, if the 
prophets in former times had held their peace, and 
quietly suffered Israel to depart from the doctrine of 
the Lord's covenant with them, then the dissensions 
between the faithful and the unfaithful might have 
been avoided, and a quiet agreement in the lapse of 
principle enjoyed, at least until the judgments of the 
Lord were poured out upon them. 

And so, if those called Protestants had stifled 
their convictions, and kept still, then the persecu- 



248 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



tions and burning of martyrs would not have trans- 
pired. 

Again, if George Fox and his friends had been 
disobedient to Divine manifestations and requir- 
ings, in preaching again the inward power, hfe and 
light of primitive Christianity, in contravention w^ith 
priestcraft, then all the outward persecutions, im- 
prisonments and martyrdoms which they suflered 
might have been avoided ! 

And lastly, if those who maintained sound doc- 
trines against Elias Hicks and his followers, had 
chosen that kind of peace and unity so loudly called 
for by the latter, in preference to the true princi- 
ples and doctrines of Truth, then the cruel dissen- 
sions and sore troubles w^hich ensued might have 
been avoided. 

Who then, in consideration of all these religious 
dissensions, shall w^e make chargeable with the 
appalling results which followed ? 

Shall w^e charge the calamities of early times 
upon the prophets who could not hold their peace 
w^hen the testimonies of that covenant were pro- 
faned ? Or, shall we charge all the blood of all the 
mai'tyrs upon a Wickliffe and a Huss, a Luther and 
a Calvin, because they withstood the Romish super- 
stitions and atrocities ? Or shall w^e charge it wiiere 
it belongs, upon the pope and his insidious hierarchy ? 
Or shall we charge the great dissensions and cruel 
persecutions which fell out in the days of our first 
Friends upon George Fox and his cotemporaries, 
because the doctrines which they preached and 
their opposition to a hireling ministry led to those 
dissensions ? 

Again, shall we charge upon those who reprobat- 
ed and withstood the doctrines of Elias Hicks with 
the great confusion which took place at Mount Plea- 
sant and at New York, when that fearful schism 
w^as consummated at those places, seeing that if 
those doctrines of E. H. had not been controverted, 
those events would not have transpired. 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



249 



No more than they, therefore, are those who re- 
probate false doctrines in the same icaij and manner 
in this day, chargeable with the consequences which 
follow ; but those by whom the offence cometh — 
the author and the abettors of him and his doctrines, 
they are they on whom the vast responsibihty rests ! 
And more especially in those places where such have 
the ascendency, should they be disposed to close up 
every avenue through which the society at large 
may obtain correct information of the soundness or' 
unsoundness of such doctrines as are offered to their 
acceptance. 

But there are among us, those who suggest, if 
rightly understood, that it is not so much the want 
of occasion, more or less, for reprobating the doc- 
trines of J. J. G., nor of the right of doing so, that 
they object ; but that it is the manner in which some 
have spoken against J. J. G. or his doctrines, that 
they disapprove. 

To which the writer replies, that seeing the doc- 
trines alluded to are easily proved to be fundamen- 
tally unsound, and tangibly perversive of Quaker- 
ism, he feels fully warranted in claiming the authori- 
ty and example of those who have heretofore, in the 
very same manner, spoken and testified against doc- 
trines which were also unsound and perversive of 
Quakerism, as well as against the authors and hold- 
ers of those doctrines. He is now referring to the 
authority of William Almy, Rowland Greene, Abel 
Collins, Thomas Rowland, William Jenkins, and a 
great number of other Friends, at the time of the 
Hicksite controversy. 

These friends appeared to be conscientiously 
concerned to guard the members of our Society 
against imbibing the defective doctrines, which 
were then spreading both in Xew England and to 
the westward. And two of the number mentioned, 
travelled westward in the ministry at that time, and 
were often known, in the same manner, to warn 
11* 



60 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



Friends against imbibing the unsound doctrines then 
spreading in the society, ^vhilst they were out on 
rehgious service. 

The manner of the Friends appealed to above, 
"was to speak and testify against the unsound doc- 
trines then advocated; and their example and '/nan- 
ner has been followed by some concenied Friends 
of the present day, to guard the society against 
defective views that are oflered to their acceptance. 

Again, there are some who refer to the authority 
of numbers as a reason for their choice of ground 
in the present controversy ; and others to the credi- 
bility of the character and standing of those to 
whom they had been accustomed to look as leading 
Friends. 

Reasons like these, undoubtedly, have a powerful 
effect upon the mind of man — upon his affections 
and passions. But the wise and conscientious be- 
liever, so soon as he finds that either numbers or 
character, are placed in competition with principles, 
however great the number, or conspicuous the 
character, he is awakened to a greater necessity of 
a firm resolution and decision in favor of the truth 
and sound principles, regardless of the consequen- 
ces which may follow. 

Had it not been for such honest resolution and 
decision of character, firmly adhered to by the first 
few protestant reformers, what would have become 
of the reformation from popery ? It would never 
have been. And but for such derision in George 
Fox, and a few" other congenial spirits against 
protestant Babylon, Quakerism had probably never 
existed. 

But these few solitary individuals in the midst of 
a great nation, and in the midst of nations, bound 
in the covenant of a glorious hope ; were enabled 
to maintain the truth against the opposition and 
resistance of all the domination of earthly power, 
against the many — the solitary few against the 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



251 



mighty, the nohle, the honorable, because He who 
must be obeyed, rather than all men, had command- 
ed them, and was with them in the work whereunto 
he had called them. 

Again, if numbers or names are to govern prin- 
ciple, must we not then, by the same rule, abandon 
Quakerism altogether, although it hath, under that 
name, existed for near two centuries, and led thou- 
sands to glory triumphant, because the whole 
society is but a little handful compared with the 
whole body of Christian professors ? Inasmuch, 
too, as among others we know there are many 
mighty, many noble, and many great men, whose 
intimacy and friendship has become so exceedingly 
enticing to some among the Quakers. 

Finally, because the great body of those under 
our name, (including many eminent men,) upon 
Long Island, and divers other places in New York, 
and elsewhere, adhered to an unsound man and his 
sentiments. Ought those few who remained, to 
have gone with them, because their number was 
small?* 



* During the pendency of the editor's case before the society, 
much pains have been taken to defame his character, sending abroad 
over the Yearly Meeting, as well as elsewhere, a great vaiiety of 
■onfounded reports, in order no doubt, to enlist if possible, the whole 
society against him, so that his excommunication might be the more 
^easily affected. 

And since that has been accomplished, some of the same and 
other unfounded stories are most industriously circulated .; as it ap- 
pears for purpose of obtaming a full assent or justification in the 
minds of Fiiends, of the cruel measures thus consummated upon an 
afflicted brother. 

_ But through the kindness of his Friends, he has had the opportu- 
nity of refuting many of these reports,-r^all that have reached him ; 
and so far as he knows, to the satisfaction of all those who have been 
so good as to give him the opportunity of doing so. He has always 
encom-aged enquiries and investigations into those reports, and still 
does encourage them, although, like the Apostle, he would rather 
glory in his infirmities than to take praise to himself, or to attempt 
to hide them from the Searcher of Hearts, or from his beloved 
pjdeuds, whose reproofs, when given as dii'ected by the Saviour, he 



252 



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 



The Yearly and Quarterly Meeting's Committees 
have said and reported, that their treatment towards 
J. W. has been in kindness and great tenderness ; 
and these reports have been w^idely spread by 
themselves and others, not only in New England, 
but otherwhere, as many of his readers will bear 
witness. 

But if the reader has given attention to the fore- 
going narrative of the proceedings of these Com- 
mittees, and marked the unreasonable privations, 
and unkind usages to which they have subjected J. 
W., he must have been prepared before coming to 
this article to reprobate, in no unhesitating manner, 
these most unhallowed pretentions to kindness and 
tenderness. 

They refused to allow him the company and as- 
sistance of any of his near Friends, when under the 
painful endurance of their reprimands, and even 
that of his w^ife ; and such refusal as this was per- 
sisted in to the last, although the right was often 
requested, and by means of disability was often 
needful. 

The reader will have seen, that they refused him 
altogether, his right of access to the records, so 
needful to the preparation of his case in vindication 
of his proceedings, and to prove the wrongs that 
were inflicted upon him. 

The reader will also have seen, that they sought 
an advantage over him, by demanding answers to 
irrelevant questions — that they shifted their ground 
divers times, in order to prevent and interrupt the 
course of his defence, — that they proffered him 
anonymous papers in order to annoy him, — that 



would desire to profit by. And his fervent prayer is, that when 
God sees iniquity in him, that He would do it away — that He would 
ever awaken and quicken his conscience to a ready perception of 
all that offends Him, and to cause that judgment should have its 
perfect work. 



RECORDS. 



253 



they accused him of falsehood, touching the premi- 
ses of his letter to them, and virtually pronounced 
those premises to be a fabrication, and thus charg- 
ing him with that which they could never prove, 
otherwise than by a reiteration of the same charges ; 
and charges too, which were not maintainable, — 
that they accused him in large companies with 
stubbornness, and of being possessed of a dark and 
hard heart. 

In short, their treatment of him on all occasions, 
so far from tenderness, has been but the confirma- 
tion of a determination to prostrate his standing, — 
some of which movements have been noticed in 
this work. 

RECORDS. 

The appellant had several times applied to the 
clerk of the Quarterly Meeting of ministers and 
elders for a copy of the minute, by which their 
committee was appointed and authorized for service, 
in the restoration of unity and harmony, but he 
refused to give it, without direction from the meet- 
ing. The Select Quarterly Meeting was therefore 
applied to for hberty to their clerk to furnish a copy 
as aforesaid ; but it refused to give such liberty. 

When the investigation of his case before the 
committee of his own Monthly Meeting approach- 
ed, one of that committee requested the Yearly 
Meeting's Committee, some of whom were expected 
to be in attendance, to bring with them a copy of 
the minute as above, and also from the clerk's riles. 
South Kingston Select Meeting's account of its 
state, as presented to the Quarter in the 5th month, 
1840. When the committee met, a paper was 
brought, purporting to be a copy of said minute ; 
but the account from South Kingston was not pro- 
duced. 

The appellant, having been present when the 



254 



RECORDS. 



minute was made, and being at that time apprehen- 
sive of the intentions of the movers of this measure, 
took especial notice of the wording of the minute, 
and had also heard it read once or twice afterwards, 
by the committee, in the early part of its proceed- 
ings ; and could not, therefore, now beheve that the 
paper now produced, was a true copy of the origu 
nal minute ; but still thought it most prudent, not to 
disclose his apprehensions at this time, not knowing 
but the discrepancy might possibly occur incident 
tally. But the account not being brought, the ap- 
pellant proposed sending a messenger to the clerk's 
office for it, unless the Yearly Meeting's Committee 
would admit its clearness in relation to unity, and 
which they acceded to, rather than to have the 
account presented. 

He now concluded to do the best he could with 
things as they were, intending if another occasion 
should offer for it, to call for the book itself, and to 
be sure to have the account present. 

Accordingly, when his appeal was pending before 
the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, and the time of 
meeting not far distant, the appellant applied in 
writing to the respondents, (one of whom was the 
keeper of the papers, and was the clerk of the 
Select Quarterly Meeting,) to produce before the 
Quarterly Meeting's Committee on the appeal, the 
books of records which contained the minutes of 
Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting of Ministers and 
Elders, held in the 5th month, 1840, and also the 
accounts from South Kingston Select Meeting 
which was presented at that meeting : being in their 
possession, and essential in the trial of the case. 

In due time, while the appeal was in progress, 
before the Quarterly Meeting's Committee, the 
respondents were asked to lay on the table the book 
and papers called for by the appellant,— after some 
hesitation they said, they were not present ; but 
offered such an extract as before. The appellant 



RECORDS. 



255 



now complained of the injustice in withholding from 
him his right of an evidence so essential in his case. 
The respondents replied by saying, " Does John 
Wilbur think that we icill bring evidence here, to des- 
troy our own case ?*' And subsequently repeated 
the same again ! 

The appellant now enquired, whether a pubKc 
officer could withhold books or papers pertaining to 
his office, in a case on trial, though their presence 
might subject himself to a decision not to his own 
advantage ? 

But most of the committee apparently, like Gal- 
lio, cared for none of these things : nor did they so 
much as say to the clerk of the Select Quarterly 
Meeting, that the appellant had a right to call for 
that book — and that he, the clerk, had laid himself 
Hable for refusing to produce it. 

Being of this temperament, the Quarterly Meet- 
ing's Committee of course decided the case against 
the appellant. But he was now more fully confirm- 
ed than before, that the discrepancy was not merely 
incidental ; but the record had either undergone 
some mutilation or was garbled in copying ! 

Therefore, previous to the Yearly Meeting where 
his appeal Vv^as to be finally decided, the appellant 
called at the house of the clerk of the Select Quar- 
terly Meeting, vdio was also one of the respondents 
from the Quarterly to the Yearly Meeting, and 
found him at leisure ; and there plead with him for 
justice, and the right which is due to all men, and 
which the discipline gives and provides for all who ap- 
peal to its decision, but found his mind closed against 
all entreaty for justice. The appellant now desired 
him to turn to the minute in question, and to let him 
just see it ; but he would not. He then asked him, 
if he would not carry the book and South Kings- 
ton account to the Yearly Meeting, but he would 
give no encouragement of doing so. The appellant 
then told him, that if he persisted in a refusal to do 



256 



RECORDS. 



SO, he should have a right to say that his copy was 
not a true copy of the original minute, and they 
might expect him to challenge it as spurious, before 
the committee of the Yearly Meeting ; and that he 
might expect him further to prove it by the ques- 
tion which they put at Providence, to wit : " Does 
John Wilbur think that we will bring evidence to 
destroy our own case ? ! T An interrogative and 
declarative of their own, clearly and fully proving 
that the book contains evidence against them, which 
the extract thev brouo;ht did not. 

When Yearly Meeting came they did persist in 
the same course, and carried not the book and doc- 
ument as requested ; but with a hope, as it appeared, 
to work on the credulity of the committee on the 
case, they produced what they called a copy by the 
clerk, and a duplicate, said to be taken from the 
records by another of the respondents, and so far as 
the appellant knows, might be a copy of a mutilated 
record as it now stands, but not of it, in its original 
form, which, if brought forward must unavoidably, as 
they said at Providence, destroy their own case. Or 
did they not rather mean that the exposure of some 
marks of an officious hand upon the face of that 
minute with the document from South Kingston 
brought to view, would destroy (what they called) 
their own case ? And better he thinks to call it their 
own case, rather than truth's cause. 

But the appellant did refuse to acknowledge these 
pretended copies ; they not being the evidence 
which the nature of this case, and state of things 
now called for, but a mere evasion of duty, and 
violation of good faith. Was it ever known before, 
that any people under our name had become so lost 
to a sense of justice, and the honor of the cause of 
truth, and had so conducted towards an individual 
member, as to refuse that their deeds should be 
brought to the light ? Or, that refused to disclose 



SUBORDINATION TO THE BODY. 



257 



to his proper judges, their usage toward him ? 
The appellant behoves not. 

He now made objection to these papers, purport- 
ing to be copies of record, and protested against 
them, as spurious documents ; and consequently, 
showing that the committee of the Select Quarterly 
Meeting, who had been the instigators and chief 
actors in this unjust course of persecution, had en- 
tirely neglected and departed from the recorded 
business of their appointment : and without cause, 
and without any discipline to warrant it, made an 
unprovoked attack upon him, whilst in the proper 
exercise of his duty in the support of our discipline, 
and therefore had no cause at all to complain of his 
vindication in his letter, or of his reprobating un- 
sound doctrines of their author.* 

SUBORDINATION TO THE BODY. 

In all compacts or associations, individuals stand 
by mutual agreement in subordination to bodies, so 
long as those bodies sustain and protect the interest 
and rights of those individuals, agreeable to the 
rules or law^s of that compact. If such general 
compact consist of branches composed of divers in- 
dividuals, those branches, in like manner, stand in 
the condition of subordination to the general com- 
pact or association. 

Such association being formed and mutually en- 
tered into, or voluntarily acknowledged by every 
individual member of it, for the benefit of each, be- 



* Some months pr•e^dous to the publication of this statement, the 
editor wrote to one of the Yearly IMeeting's Standing Committee, 
(who was also one of the last respondents, and the keeper of their 
papers in this case,) requesting the loan of them for a short time in 
order for the completion of a fair record of the whole transaction ; 
but could not obtam them. Hence, some of their objections could 
not be so dhectly met and answered ; and tliis narrative is therefore 
somewhat less complete than it would otherwise have been. 



258 SUBORDINATION TO THE BODY. 



ing wholly made up of individuals, and bound by its 
constitution and laws as premised, for the benefit 
and interests of its members, as well as to protect 
t\\e\Y rights- — the responsibility, therefore, is mutual. 

This responsibility rests upon the whole, in pro- 
portion to the authority or number, whether of the 
supreme body or its branches ; or whether of indi- 
viduals. If the supreme body consist of a thousand 
mdividuals, its breach of trust, or breach of the 
conditions of its order, (if such transpire,) is in the 
same proportion greater than that of a single indi- 
vidual. 

If a branch of that body consist of an hundred in- 
dividuals, and acts by the powder of that number, its 
breach of order is in the same ratio greater than 
that of an individual. Hence, the perverting or vio- 
lating of the rules of such association, tending to the 
overthrow of such body, is dangerous in direct pro- 
portion to the powers and number of the body 
which abuses the rules of its original and mutual 
stipulations. 

Thus the danofer attendinor a serious disease of 
the head or the chest, is vastly greater than that 
which affects a single member of the human body. 
But if the association be wholly of a religious char- 
acter, the considerations involved are of a higher 
order and of greater consequence, — if purely Chris- 
tian, Christ presides, and his law is the governing 
rule of that compact; as it is of every member of 
it, if he be a follower of Christ. 

If such body be purely Christian, and so remain, 
no one can be required to resign or forego his obli- 
gations to Christ ; nor can a follower of Christ vio- 
late his law, and the obligation due to him, at the 
bidding of man ; — nor yet can a body, so being and 
so remaining, require one of its members to dis- 
regard or violate his allegiance to Christ. 

But, touching the question of certainty in ascer- 
taining the mind of Truth, and its pointings (wheth- 



SUBORDINATION TO THE BODY. 259 



er we allude to the church or its members) in case 
of a loss of the true anomting the early and spirit- 
ually endued members of the Society of Friends, 
plainly recorded their views of the Christian doc- 
trines, and also instituted a discipline and church 
government for the establishment of doctrine as 
well as practice in the future government of the 
church. Such discipline and such doctrines, ordain- 
ed of the Truth, have been acknowledged as a test 
of faith and conduct by the Society for nearly two 
centuries. 

Whatever body of men, therefore, whether supe- 
rior or subordinate, claiming ecclesiastical authority, 
or to be a Yearly, or Quarterly Meeting, of such 
Society ; if they violate and disregard the rules, 
regulations and doctrines of that Society, in any im- 
portant points, and persist in it, are not to be con- 
sidered nor accredited as the body of Christ, nor 
can they belong to the Society of Friends ; but are 
a spurious body, and therefore not entitled to any 
authority under the doctrines and discipline of the 
ancient Society of Friends. 

Bodies professing Christianity are as much bound 
to act conscientiously and in the fear of the Lord as 
individuals ; and if all the individuals composing 
such bodies so act, then there will be no misrule nor 
oppression exercised by that body ; nor occasion for 
giving or receiving a plaudit for the quieting of one 
anothers' consciences, nor of laying plans for turn- 
ing away backward the judgment of truth. 

But it has been made to appear by the foregoing 
narration of facts which have transpired, that both 
the superior and inferior bodies, under the name of 
Friends, have disregarded and trodden down the 
good order and discipline of the Society ; and 
through the ruling members (in whose acts these 
bodies have united,) have also supported the author 
or authors of unsound doctrines ; and under these 
flagrant abuses it is, that they reiterate the cry of 



260 



SUBORDINATION TO THE BODY. 



subordination to the body — subordination to the 
body ! ! And no sin is more spoken of by them in 
our hearing, as being of so deep a dye, as insubor- 
dination to the body — as insubordination to their 
own wills and decisions ! 

But if their construction of the word, as to its 
meaning, is correct, they themselves are chargeable 
with insubordination, both to the Doctrines and Dis- 
cipline of the Society of Friends, and they are now 
called upon to clear themselves from this charge ; 
and if they can do it, all the upright will be made 
glad. To do this, how^ever, they must condemn 
and revoke their proceedings en masse, against 
South Kingston Monthly Meeting and its members, 
as well as in other cases ; and they must also con- 
demn their support and defence of an unsound 
writer. But this we know, that they who call them- 
selves apostles and are not, and they who call 
themselves Jews and are not, (however great their 
number, and high their profession,) are not the bodi/ 
of Christ, but are w^hat He, who was dead and is 
alive, declares them to be, as recorded in the Reve- 
lations. See chapter 2nd. No more are those who 
say they are Quakers and are not — those who make 
the profession, but have denied the faith by their 
w^orks, — w^e say, no more are these the body ol 
Christ ; nor have they any more right to bind men's 
consciences than had that body which called itself 
the Church or the Body of Christ in the middle 
ages : touching w^hich we have shown that the 
more corrupt the body, the louder the cry and the 
more rigorous the measures to enforce subordina- 
tion or obedience to the desires and will of the 
body. 

This cry of insubordination to the body, is by no 
means new. It was raised against those undaunted 
worthies who dissented from the false doctrines and 
corrupt practices of the Romish Church, and who 
faithfully testified against them ; and for which they 



SUBORDINATION TO THE BODY. 



261 



endured every species of persecution, not excepting 
death itself. 

Again, for the same crime the early Friends were 
arraigned, and persecuted, and put to death. And 
at the time of the Hicksite controversy, subordina- 
tion to the body was loudly proclaimed and insisted 
on, and several valuable Friends were placed under 
dealing, and finally disowned from the Society for 
this alleged high crime. And now again the cry 
of insubordination is raised against those who dis- 
sent from and testify against the unsound doctrines 
spread abroad among us ; and these are in turn 
subjected to the penalty of dealing and disown- 
ment. 

Now, let us deliberate upon this claim of uncon- 
ditional subordination, so strongly insisted on by 
the Yearly Meeting's Committee ; and on their be- 
half by others amongst us ; and reflect on the con- 
sequences to which it must inevitably lead, if admit- 
ted and acted on in the Society of Friends ; never 
heard of in a sound and healthy state of the Church : 
but if her condition become otherwise, no marvel 
then that claims should be made by her rulers, for 
the prostration of the rights of subordinate meet- 
ings and individuals. 

In coincidence with such claims, we have been 
told by prominent men, (employed in carrying out 
this doctrine of absolute subordination to the body,) 
that it is our duty to yield our opinions to the body on 
all occasions ; even if we know ourselves to he rights 
and the whole body to he wrong ! ! 

And then, to quiet our consciences, they tell us, 
that if we will only submit to all their dictation, no 
blame will attach to us ; but that the responsibility 
will rest upon the body ! And truly there appears 
to be no shrinking, on their part, from taking such 
responsibility. 

This doctrine, if continued to be adhered to and 
finished, will undoubtedly bring us directly back 



262 



CONCLUSION. 



again to the ground maintained by the Papal 
Hierarchy, in the middle ages ; whose rulers un- 
doubtedly supposed that their high standing and 
authority in the body, and ecclesiastical distinc- 
tion, would be a warrantee for whatever they 
might list, and give credence to their unrighteous 
proceedings. 

But can it be believed, in this boasted age, that 
justice and judgment, truth and righteousness, will 
w^aive their claim to the abuse of ecclesiastical au- 
thority among men ? Or even to a standing com- 
mittee, or to any deputation whatever, from a Year- 
ly Meeting of the Society under our name ? 

Nay, verily, — the higher the standing of any body 
of men, the more reprehensible their misrule and the 
more displeasing in the sight of God. 

COXCLUSION : 

Containing an affectionate invitation to all the 
honest-hearted under our name, to hold fast the pro- 
fession of the Christian faith, as recognized and 
most surely believed by all our faithful predecessors 
in the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

In this concluding address, I will not intrude upon 
the reader's time with a specific recapitulation of 
the foregoing proceedings, brought to view in vindi- 
cation of the course taken in the support and de- 
fence of our Christian principles and discipline ; the 
importance of which I hope he will be enabled duly 
to appreciate. But in this invitation, the object of 
my desire and concern is, to persuade and exhort 
all (and it is in the feelings of much brotherly love 
and with a lively hope) to be entreated to come 
forward more and more in a practical consumma- 
tion of the obedience of that faith which leads to 
the saving knowledge of God, through the revela- 
tion of Hnn who died for our sins and rose again 
for our reconciliation unto God ; and who also was 



CONCLUSION. 



263 



and is and yet to be, the Lord from Hea:ven, a 
quickening Spirit. 

And first, permit me to say to you, my dear 
friends, that however very dear to me the rights and 
privileges of the mihtant church, in a condition 
owned of God ; yet, (if otherwise.) how much dearer 
ought to be, (and not to me only, but into every one 
of her children,) the love of God and the owning of 
his approving presence, which are the fruits of the 
one living faith in the Son of God, and in the funda- 
mental and inalienable doctrines of the Gospel of 
Christ, with the testimonies and discipline of the 
true church ; a faithful conformity whereunto 
through obedience, being indispensable as a test of 
membership in that body, of which Christ is the 
Head; and therefore of the greatest consequence to 
every one who would desire to be a member of the 
true church. 

And w^e, of the present generation, are entrusted 
with the keeping of this faith, and those testimonies, 
through our day, and are bound by the strongest 
obligations, (inasmuch as our way has been made 
more easy, by the delivery into our hands of these 
testimonies, pure and entire, by our predecessors,) 
to act our part faithfully, through the Lord's assist- 
ance, and tender mercies ; not only in the scrupu- 
lously upholding of them ourselves, through our day 
and time, as a righteous standard and testimony to 
all men ; but to deliver and hand them down to the 
succeeding generation, undiminished and without 
abatement ; so that those who follow after may re- 
joice and gather strength by means of our unflinch- 
ing uprightness and willingness to endure all things 
for the sake of Him w^ho gave them to the church ; 
and to bear the cross and to despise the shame, in 
the faithful endurance of self-denial in this, a day of 
lightly esteeming and treading down of the holy 
testimony of the cross of Christ, which is the powder 
of God and wisdom of God ; and remains to be a 



264 



CONCLUSION. 



mystery which has been hid for ages from the wise 
and prudent, — from all the carnal professors of every 
age, — but revealed to the humble, and the lowly, 
and self-denying followers of the Lamb, of every 
generation. 

And the importance, that we as a people, who 
have advanced in the faith of vital Christianity be- 
yond others of the protestant reformation, should 
hold fast to the testimonies that we were at the first 
entrusted with, (and without the fear of man,) is 
strikingly apparent ; lest we through a culpable re- 
laxation should give countenance and strength to 
the apostacy of such other denominations as are 
retrograding into a sorrowful declension from their 
own first principles, and thereby should bring con- 
demnation upon ourselves on their account. 

How sorrowful will it be, my dear Friends, if 
we, either willingly or heedlessly fall irrecoverably 
into the degenerating current of the day, and with 
the multitude go back again to the house from 
whence our forefathers came out, (through the cost 
of great tribulations,) and which return must be to 
the utter loss of our own souls, and to the great re- 
proach of the holy profession handed down to us by 
our worthy predecessors in the truth, and would be 
crucifying to ourselves the Son of God afresh, and 
putting him to an open shame. 

As reasons for the goodly exercise of care, in 
watching over ourselves and guarding the church 
against the smaller as well as greater inlets of a 
departure from sound doctrine and correct prac- 
tices, we may once more recur to the view of things 
which have transpired heretofore, as alluded to in 
the preface of this narrative, both in ancient and 
modern times, in which was noticed the sad declen- 
sion of the church, under both dispensations, in rela- 
tion to the Lord's statutes and doctrines delivered 
to her, showing that the former, though established 
of the Almighty himself, did not only become the 



CONCLUSION. 



265 



degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Him, but 
finally persecuted and wickedly put his messen- 
gers to death, and finally slew the Son and sent of 
God, before the measure of her iniquity was full. 
And that the latter, even under the gospel and name 
of Him who came not to destroy men's lives but to 
save them, persecuted the messengers whom he 
had sent to warn them of their iniquities, and put 
them to death without mercy. 

And the question was asked, and may again well 
be asked, whether the church now is better, and 
more secure against the danger, of an apostate con- 
dition, than the primitive Christian church was? 
Will it not be acknowledged that the same entice- 
ments are now in the hands of the enemy as hereto- 
fore ; and the same proneness to evil in men now 
as then, to wit, the love of pleasure — the love of the 
world — the love of power and other degenerating 
propensities ; and are not these as dead.ly now to 
true religion as they ever were in any age of the 
world ? 

But we know it is so. Then, Othen! let every 
one gird up the loins of his mind, and watch — 
watch and pray lest we enter into temptation, and 
fall by the subtle delusions of the wicked one. Oh, 
Friends ! let us dwell in the light of the Lord, that 
so w^e may see the snares of the enemy and avoid 
them — let us draw near and dwell in Him who is 
Hght, and in whom there is no darkness at all : and 
as we come to see in him, the councils of wisdom, 
and are made to understand his will, let us obey, 
whether it be in acting or in forbearing to act— 
whether it be in the small or in the great sacrifices, 
remembering that believing and obeying in the one, 
is the same in the sight of God, as the behoving and 
obeying in the other. Then despise not the day of 
small things, but keep the convenant of obedience 
in the little as in the much, for the reward is as cer- 
tain in the one as in the other, even peace and joy in 
12 



266 



CONCLUSION. 



the Holy Ghost, — for it is as we are faithful in the 
little, that we shall be made rulers over more, and be 
prepared to do more and more ; and so shall our 
strength be increased from less to more, and as our 
eye is kept single to the light of the Lord in our own 
souls, waiting upon Him, and keeping the word of 
liis patience in that covenant, which is as sure by 
night as by day — as sure in the night of trial and 
temptation, as in the day of deliverance and re- 
joicing. Hence faith and patience in the disciple's 
experience, are a treasure of great price, and con- 
tribute, even more largely to his growth in the 
saving knowledge of God, than in his more joyous 
seasons of feasting upon the good things of his 
Master's table. 

Zion can only be redeemed through judgment; 
and her converts by righteousness ; — by being 
plunged into the river of judgment : this must be 
known in the experience of every member of the 
true church. He must witness the sanctifying bap- 
tism and power of the Holy Ghost ; and immutable 
justice towards all men, must be the obvious char- 
acteristic of his life and conversation, showing mer- 
cy to others as he would desire God would show- 
mercy to him. And in so walking in the fear of the 
Lord, it is only that we evince by our fruits, that 
we love Him above all, and our neighbor as our- 
selves. 

By the inward operation of the judgment and 
power of God, it is, that the members are instructed 
and prepared for service in the church — to be way- 
marks and ensamples to all men. 

And among the many and important services as- 
signed to the members respectively, there are none 
peradventure of greater usefulness, or of a higher 
order, than that of the gospel ministry — a service, 
than which, none has been more grossly abused — 
than which, no one has been more sacrilegiously 
counterfeited. If true and apostohc, not received 



CONCLUSION. 



267 



of man nor by man, but by the revelation of Jesus 
Christ — as such, it is a great blessing to the church 
— if false, and learned only of man and by man, and 
should prevail in the body under our name, it will 
prove an unfailing means of a degeneracy and 
estrangement from God, and a lapse into dead for- 
mality ; and will greatly tend to draw away/ro?7i 
God unto men. 

So far as we know, the Society of Friends is the 
only people, among all the Christian denominations, 
since the primitive ages, who profess to preach the 
gospel only as the Spirit giveth utterance — who 
w^ait for the promise of the Father on all occasions 
as Christ taught his disciples, to wit : — who believe 
it requisite to tarry until they be endued with power 
from on high, before they attempt to preach in 
God's great and holy name. 

Hence the testimony of Friends, touching this 
high and holy calling, is at this day the most primi- 
tive, noble and dignified testimony in the world, 
being the only one which recognizes a sensible, di- 
rect intercourse and communication between the 
heavens and the earth ; or in other words, from 
God to the children of men. 

Inasmuch, then, as the Society of Friends are the 
only people who hold fast to the faith, that Christi- 
anity itself has not diminished, nor fallen off, nor its 
gifts and graces been withdrawn from the true 
church, since the day when the Lord told his disci- 
ples, that the Spirit which should succeed his per- 
sonal presence with them, should instruct them in 
all things, and bring all things to their remembrance ; 
or since the day when he promised that he w^ould 
abide w^ith them for ever, even unto the end of the 
world ; — how desirable and indispensable for us, in 
the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, " they shall all 
know me," &c., and for the unspeakable benefit of 
the church, as well as of the world at large, that we 
hold fast the profession of this faith without waver- 



268 



CONCLUSION. 



ing — this faith of the continued dispensation of the 
gift of the Holy Ghost unto them who wait for him 
in sincerity and humihty, and beUeve in his powder. 

But this gift of God's grace and Holy Spirit, is by 
no means exclusively given to gospel ministers, but 
flows from the Vine, which is the fountain of life, 
to every living branch; — from Christ to every 
member of his body. And all the true members, 
whatever their respective callings are, as their 
hearts are open to receive, are by the anointing of 
his Spirit taught and instructed to fulfil their duties 
and callings conformable to the will of God, and are 
blessed with immediate access to him, through the 
mediation of Christ, and without the intervention of 
any man. 

And it is as impossible for the church of Christ to re- 
main such, and to be a hving body, without the savor 
and circulation of the Spirit and life of Christ, as for 
a tree to remain green and fruitful without the cir- 
culation of sap and nourishment from the root and 
from the body ; or as for a man to exist in the vigor 
of life, without the circulation from the heart, of 
that blood which is the life of man. 

But to return to the exercise of the gospel minis- 
try. I feel concerned to exhort all, who are called 
to that solemn service, faithfully and patiently to 
wait, and to rely on Him alone who is the Great 
Minister of the sanctuary and true tabernacle which 
God hath pitched and not man, both for the opening 
and the shutting, — for strength, — for mouth and 
wisdom — tongue and utterance. And, above all 
things, having no confidence in themselves, or in 
the endowment of man's wisdom ; but tarry, I en- 
treat you, (as you would desire your own further- 
ance, and that of your brethren,) tarry at Jerusalem 
until ye be endued with power from on high ; for 
under the dominion of this power, (it only is) as it is 
waited for in the simplicity and integrity of the 
soul, that the work will prosper and bring peace 



CONCLUSION. 



269 



and joy to those who are thus exercised in it : and 
will redound to the glory of God and the consola- 
tion of his people, whether the measure of the gift 
be less or more. Xe-ver, O never ! let the desire 
for words, either in yourselves or in others, beguile 
you into an unsanctified offering — beguile you into 
a spurious ministry, or the offering of strange fire. 
Oh ! how lamentable the condition of those where a 
lifeless ministry prevails ! How deadening to an 
assembly of Quaker worshippers, for if it come not 
from God, though it may please the ear, or lead to 
head knowledge, it is no better than a sounding 
brass and a tinkling cymbal ! How much better in 
the sight of God, and for the church, is silent wor- 
ship, than the annoyance of a spurious ministry ! 

The skill and artifice of man, in framing a beau- 
tiful discourse, if it be but in man's wisdom and 
learning, contributes no more to the honor of God, 
or the salvation of souls, than would man's sagacity 
in forming a beautiful image of things above or 
things below : he can, of himself, no more breathe 
the breath of life into the one than into the other. 
And w^ithout a portion of the Divine Hfe, which is 
the gift of God and testimony of Jesus, preaching is 
no more saving, than any other mere image of good 
things. 

Hence the necessity that Christ's ministers, seeing 
they are but men, should abide with the Lord Jesus 
in the inner court of the heart, and " with him in his 
tribulations, that so they may know of his doctrines," 
and how^ to preach them, — that they may be in- 
structed in the counsel of his will, for it is here, in the 
heart, that " whatsoever is to be known of him is 
made manifest," — pertaining to his own glorious 
kingdom and the salvation of souls : which is at 
times made known to the messengers of his cove- 
nant, for their own quahfication to minister, and for 
the watering and refreshing of " those who serve 
him," as well as for the reproof and instruction of 



270 



CONCLUSION. 



" those who serve him not " to his own holy and 
blessed acceptance. 

And it is only by patiently enduring the baptism 
of Christ and of his judgments, to the subjugation of 
the will of the flesh in themselves, that they can be 
good stewards of the manifold grace of God, and 
iully prepared to divide the word aright among his 
people, and clearly to discern between the precious 
and the vile, under whatever covering such states 
may exist, or under whatever appearance or pro- 
fessions men may make ; these true messengers of 
Christ, will not be misled, by what men have been, 
or by what they now profess to be. 

Wherefore, my dear fellow-pilgrims in this high 
caUing of God, grudge not, I beseech you, the con- 
flict, or the reproaches, of drinking deeply of the 
Saviour's bitter cup, nor the endurance of his fiery 
baptisms, (for his own received him not, but slew 
him, and denied him,) seeing that so great salvation 
is the result of suffering, and awaits the faithful and 
unflinching labors of those who are prepared by the 
ordeal of his power; and who have labored and 
have not fainted, and who have borne the burden 
through the heat of the day. And remember who 
it was, and from whence they came, whom John 
saw round about the throne of God, who had washed 
their robes and had made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb. 

And oh ! that all under our name of all classes, 
who name the name of Jesus, may never name Him 
unworthily or deceitfully, but, by departing from 
all iniquity, might honor him, having his fear al- 
ways before their eyes, walking in all humility and 
lowliness before him, that so their example may do 
honor to the high and holy name of the Great Au- 
thor of our salvation, and to the exalted profession 
we are making among men. 

And how, above all things, is the Christian's ex- 
perience in that power of God which overcomes 



CONCLUSION. 



271 



the world, enlarged, by frequently and continually 
seeking and feeling after him with the whole heart, 
undivided and unreserved. Oh ! fellovz-probationer, 
forget not thy morning oblation^ before thy head is 
raised from thy pillow, but approach the altar of 
his sacrifices in thine own heart, for thou mayest 
there witness in the silence of celestial excellence, 
the flame of his love and holy presence to kindle 
upon thy offering : and then when thou goest by the 
way, He w^ill also go along with thee, and when 
thou liest down he will keep thee, and as thy de- 
sires are unto him, he will bless thy evening sacri- 
fices : and again, when thy slumbers are broken, in 
the silent watches of the night, then let not thy 
thoughts go astray upon things that perish, but 
keep and gather them inward, and stay them upon 
Him whose presence fills the universe ; and he will 
become to thee the chiefest among ten thousand. 
But when he delayeth to come unto thee, then fast- 
ing and mourning will be thy lot; and "great 
searching of heart," and fearful enquiry, why he has 
forsaken thee, and whether thou hast not sinned 
against him, and gone backward, and left thy first 
love ! Oh ! this is the way by which all the holy 
men of old, and our worthy predecessors gained 
the experience of the knowledge and way of the 
Lord ; and if thou would gain a heavenly treasure 
like theirs, and follow their footsteps, to a blessed 
establishment in the unchangeable truth, then be 
faithful and relax not from a daily exercise in seek- 
ing Him, and staying thy mind upon him ; girding 
up thy loins and watching for the morning, possess- 
ing thy soul in the patience of God ; confessing to 
him thy sins and short comings, and asking for- 
giveness through Him who is the Mediator of God's 
covenant for reconciliation with thee : and behold 
he will, when it please him, and in the right time, 
shorten and dispel the hour and power of darkness 
and distress, and cause the true light again to shine 



212 



COXCLUSION. 



into thy soul and round about thee, and will again 
arise himself with power and great glory, as from 
the gloom of the sepulchre, and will cause thy soul 
to rise with him, with joy unspeakable and full of 
praise. 

Thus described is some of the true Christian's 
experience, and the practical ground of his commg 
to the saving knowledge of God, through the reve- 
lation of Jesus Christ, and by the means of keeping 
a single eye to the light, and watching unto prayer 
without ceasino^. wherebv the mind is staved and 
kept aUve unto God, and preserved in the hour of 
temptation, and from being seduced and led away 
" by every wind of doctrine," as mere superficial 
professors are. 

Hence, when this blessed experience is attained 
and abode in by a follower of Christ, his mind will 
not be beguiled with false doctrines or misled by 
designing men, though such doctrines be preached 
in the eloquence of the wisest, or even by an angel 
from heaven, because the Vvdtness is in himself, and 
this witness for God will evermore, as do the holy 
Scriptures, contradict and deny all false and delu- 
sive doctrine, because the disciple dwells with him 
who is light, and in whom there is no darkness at 
all. And. therefore thus abiding in the light, no 
man can deceive him, nor yet the wicked one, 
hough he might assume the appearance of an angel 
of hght. 

But when men begin to hate the light, and to de- 
part from it, because their deeds are become evil, 
then their vision is darkened, and they can scarcely 
distinguish between an ignus fatus, or the coun- 
terfeit radiance of the fallen angel, from the clear 
shining of the light of the Lord, and are therefore 
exposed to the imposition of false doctrines proffer- 
ed to them in the wisdom of the serpent, by his de- 
ceitful working, and by his transformations are un- 
distinguished by those " whose vision is not clear." 



CONCLUSION. 



273 



How lamentable the condition of those, viewing 
things as they do, with a clouded imagination, or 
through an inverted medium, and therefore are led 
to call light darkness, and darkness light ; good, evil ; 
and evil, good ; just like the same sort of people in 
the prophet's time. Here we see the great powers 
of transformation in the hands of the wicked one. 
And never better pleased was he, as would appear, 
nor his kingdom better served in any age, than by 
his success in alluring and beguiling the servants 
of the Lord, to become and to be his servants ; and 
the more eminent in their former station the more 
so in the latter, as fully demonstrated by events 
w^hich have transpired. 

And hov/ deplorable the state of those who are 
transformed from the image of God to a condition 
of unrighteousness — from the love of God to the 
love of the world — from the fear of God to the fear 
of man, and the desire of pleasing God exchanged 
for a greater desire of pleasing inen. 

A condition in which man is ashamed acceptably 
to acknowledge the Redeemer before a man who 
shall die, and the son of man who shall perish. 

Of those wiio regard men more than they regard 
Him, he will be ashamed before his Father and the 
holy angels, and will not therefore be a mediator 
between them and their God, whom they have des- 
pised, and have more lightly esteemed Him than 
they have esteemed men. 

With such there must be a fearful looking for of 
judgment, and the righteous indignation of God's 
displeasure, because they have more lightly esteem- 
ed the favor of, and fear of God, than the persons 
and friendship of men, which is idolatry and great 
offence in His sight. 

Our Lord and Saviour describes the contrast be- 
tween the fear of man and the fear of God in a very 
strikaig manner, and gives forth His command to 
fear God rather than man, in despite of the utmost 
12* 



^74 



CONCLUSION. 



that man can do : " Fear not them that kill the body, 
and after that have no more that they can do ; but 
I will forewarn you, whom ye ought to fear — fear 
Him who after he hath killed, hath power to cast 
into hell," and emphatically adds, " Yea, I say unto 
you, fear Him." And this command stands unabat- 
ed, and is as obligatory on us as on his followers in 
that day. 

Although men now have not power, by the^ laws 
of the land, to kill the body, or to take men's lives 
on account of their fidelity to God, yet there are 
those who have power and disposition to persecute, 
and to take from us that which had been almost as 
dear as life itself to us — our places, our rights, and 
our privileges in the outward visible church. A 
process plainly distinguishable from the law of 
Christ, as will appear by a recurrence to the pat- 
tern of church government, as well as the doctrines 
received and acknowledged aforetime by the whole 
body, under the acknowledged guidance of the 
spirit of Christ. 

Therefore, when those who teach us doctrines, 
and hold the rein of church government over us, 
shall have unhappily departed from that pattern, 
then fear them not, nor reverence them, for they 
will begin to deny the Master's coming, and to 
beat the men servants and the maid servants, and 
to lord it over the heritage of God. 

Now, here is the difference, those who are or- 
dained of the Holy Ghost to teach and to rule in his 
church, are both to be regarded and honored, so 
long as they rule in righteousness. But when their 
garments become defiled with enmity or the love 
of power, or the love of filthy lucre, or their eye be- 
come evil, then their hearts are become dark, and 
their hands full of oppression, and their arm but an 
arm of flesh. And he that continueth to transfer to 
them the honor which only belongeth unto God, or 
to trust in them, is accursed of the Lord, though 



CONCLUSION. 



275 



they may shine as stars of great magnitude over 
the tabernacles of Esau; they are no longer to be 
called by the name of Jacob, nor surnamed by the 
name of Israel, so long as they disregard Israel's 
statutes and testimonies. 

Hence we see the necessity of wisdom from 
above, and a clear discernment of the states and con- 
ditions of men, aside from prepossession, favor or 
friendship; aside from relationship and all former 
estimations, outward circumstances or outward ap- 
pearances ; and aside too from the estimation of 
others. When the condition of men is seen in the 
light, and their views, practices and motives are not 
answerable to the pattern as above, then let the 
loyal disciple of him in whom there is no shadow^ of 
turning, and who is to give account, and bear a 
faithful testimony against such in all meekness and 
lowliness, move in the fear of the Lord, and trust in 
his providence and power, and then he has nothing 
to fear from men, nor from a host of the mighty, for 
as he so continue and abide in the 'everlasting 
patience in the secret place of the Almighty, whose 
refuge will be round about him, and his banner 
over him ; and for all the sufferings, revilings and 
evil reports which he shall have to endure, the re- 
ward from his blessed Master's hand will be an hun- 
dred fold in this present world, and that which is 
to come, everlasting life. 

And the writer is induced to believe, through the 
opening of truth, that a remnant will be spared from 
the "flood of mighty waters overflowing," whilst 
" the beauty which is on the head of the fat valley 
shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit be- 
fore the summer^ which when he that looketh upon it, 
seeth ; while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up." 
" In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown 
of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the resi- 
due of His people, and for a spirit of judgment to 
;iiim that sitteth in judgment^ and for strength to 



276 



CONCLUSION. 



them that turn the battle to the gate, and many 
shall run to and fro, and the knowledge of the Lord 
shall be mcreased, and judgment shall run down as 
waters, and righteousness as a river — the wilder- 
ness shall become as Eden, and the desert as the gar- 
den of the Lord. Aliens shall be thy ploughmen, 
and strangers shall stand and feed the flock, and 
nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee be- 
cause of the Lord thy God." 

It has been seen by divers of the Lord's messen- 
gers in our Israel, both earlier and later, that a great 
declension and sifting time would take place among 
us, and that a remarkable reformation and better 
day would succeed. 

The former we have already seen sorrowfully to 
have been progressing, in a departure from truth's 
testimonies and doctrines, by the insidious work- 
ing of the enemy, drawing away from the true faith, 
both on the light hand and on the left. And is believ- 
ed that the day is near, (if the Lord's purposes are 
not frustrated through fear or unfaithfulness in these 
who have been spared and called to begin the work,) 
when the foregoing declarations of the prophets will 
be verified and fulfilled in the succession of faithful 
messengers and standard bearers, and of a better 
day; and of the advancement and upholding of 
truth's dignified testimonies to the honor of God's 
great, and glorious, and holy name. 

JOHN WILBUR. 

Hopkinton, R, /., 1^^ month IQth, 1845* 



APPENDIX, 



CONTAINING A 



COMPARISON OF SOME OF THE DOCTRINAL VIEWS 



OF 

J. J. GURNEY, 

WITH THOSE OF SEVERAL STANDARD WRITERS AMONG 
THE EARLY FRIENDS. AND SEVERAL TESTIMONIES 
AND LETTERS RELATIVE 

TO THE 



DOCTRINES AND CONDITION 



OF THE 



SOCIETY OF FPJENDS. 



" I am satisfied that there is a spirit at work, which would lay waste 
the ancient profession and doctrines of our religions Societ}^ and draw 
Friends away from the spirituality of that which they have once 
known, and many ai'e catched with it.'* — {Jonathan Evans' Memo- 
rials of deceased Friends. Published 18i2. pagell.) 

" I let him know that I did not consider it unfriendly, or conti-ary to 
Discipline, to make a statement of the doctrines he piAlished, as I con- 
sidered it as a species of puhlic property. — {Joseph WhitalVs Conversa- 
tion with Elias Hicks. iSee Foster's Repoi-ts,p. 215.) 



APPEXDIX, &c. 



OF THE TRUE SOURCE OF ALL DIYIXE KNOWLEDGE. 

J, J. Gurney (Portable E\'idences, p. 31): Now 
the information which the Bible gives, respecting the 
Supreme Being, whether considered as a harmonious 
whole, or viewed in its principal details, is to be found 
originally in the Bible alone. 

(id. p. 35.) It is the Bible, and the Bible only, which 
declares a standard of morals, universally applicable to 
our need, and liable to no change." 

(p. 101.) " Now it is in the Scriptures only that the 
attributes of our Heavenly Father ^xe fully made known 

to usr 

(Address to the Mechanics of Manchester, p. 6.) 
^' This delightful science [Geology] has done much to 
confii'm the Scripture record, and to complete that 
natural proof of a Supreme intelligent Being, on ivhicJi 
all religion hinges'' 

Contrast the above with 

Rohert Barclay (Apol. Prop. II, p. 17) : Seeing no 
man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom 
the Son revealeth Him ; and seeing the revelation of 
the Son is in and by the Spirit ; therefore the testimony 
of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge 
of G-od hath been, is, and can be only revealed.'' 

(p. 20.) For the better understanding, then, of this 
proposition, we do distinguish betwixt the certain 



280 



ArPENDIX. 



knowledge of God, and the uncertain; betwixt the 

spiritual knowledge and the literal] the saving heart 
knowledo^e, and the soarino; head knowledo^e. The 
last, we confess, may be divers ways obtained ; but 
the first, by no other way than the inicard imviediate 
manifestation and revelation of God's Spirit, shining in 
and upon the heart, enlightening and opening the un- 
derstanding. None have any true ground to believe 
they have attained it, who have it not by this revela- 
tion of God's Spirit." 

(p. 26.) I would, however, not be understood, as if 
hereby I excluded those other means of knowledge 
from any use or service to man ; it is far from me so 
to judge, as, concerning the Scriptures, in the next 
proposition will more plainly appear. The question is 
not, what may be profitable or helpful, but what is ab- 
solutely necessary. Many things may contribute to 
further a work, which yet are not the main thing that 
makes the work go on. The sum, then, of what is 
said, amounts to this : that where the true inward 
knowledge of God is, through the revelation of his 
Spirit, there is all ; neither is there an absolute neces- 
sity of any other. But where the best, highest, and 
most profound knowledge is, 2vitliout this, there is 
nothing, as to the obtaining the great end of salvation." 

Willia?n Penn (Rise and Progress, p. 27) : I have 
already touched upon their fundamental principle, 
which is as the corner stone of their fabric ; and indeed, 
to speak eminently and properly, their characteristic, 
or main distinguishing -point or principle, viz : the light 
of Christ within, as God's gift for man's salvation. 
This, I say, is as the root of the goodly tree of doc- 
trines that grew and branched out from it, which I 
shall now mention," &c. &:c. 

George Fox (Journal, Leeds edit. Vol. I. p. 92) : My 
desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the 
2mre knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without 
the help of any man, book or writing. For though I 
read the Scriptures that spoke of Christ and of God ; 



APPENDIX. 



281 



yet Ihieio Jiim not, hut hy revelation, as He who hatli the 
key did ojDen, and as the Father of Life drew me to his 
Son by his Spirit." 

William Perm (Pref. to Prim. Christ. Revived) : "By 
this short ensuing ti^eatise, thou wilt perceive the sub- 
ject of it, viz : the light of Christ in man, as the mani- 
festation of God's love for man's happiness ; now, for- 
asmuch as this is the peculiar testimony and character- 
istic of the ]3eople called Quakers ; their great funda- 
mental in religion; that by which they have been dis- 
tinguislied from other professors of Christianity in their 
time, and to which they refer all people about faith, 
worship, and practice, both in their ministry and 
writings ; that as the fingers shoot out of the hand, and 
the branches from the body of the tree, so true religion, 
in all the parts and articles of it, springs from this di- 
vine principle in many 

FAITH. 

J". J, Gurney (Essays, p. 345. 6 Amer. edit.): " Were 
I the most solitary of hermits, or cast, like the ship- 
wrecked mariner, on an uninhabited island, I could not 
live at all, did I not, in a multitude of instances, exer- 
cise the principle of faith. I must be led about by 
probabilities. 

But it is in social and civil life, more particularly, 
that the principle of faitJi is called into action, and every 
one who has reflected on the subject, must be well 
aware, that were it not for the willing admission of 
those things which are not philosophically certain, but 
only in various degrees probable, and more especially 
for a due reliance on testimmiy, the whole frame work 
of society would be disorganized and subverted. Faith 
is an indispensable link in that mighty chain of divine 
wisdom and providence, which binds together man to 
man, family to family, and nation to nation : and with- 
out it, there could be no order or union in the intel- 
lectual part of God's visible creation. Such being the 



282 



APPENDIX. 



state of the case, there can be nothing opposed to true 
reason and philosophy in the perfectly corresponding 
fact, that under the moral and spiritual government of 
God, and in order to that religious life which is alone 
productive of eternal happiness, men are required to 
bring the same 'principle into action, and to regulate 
their dispositions and conduct not merely by their 
knowledge of that which is certain, but more especially 
and more extensively by their belief of that which is 
^ probable/' 

(p. 353.) Faith draws near unto that God whom 
reason has discovered,'' &c. — " but as long as these noble 
faculties of the human mind are kept," &c. 

(p. 357.) It is a reliance of the soul, on the incarnate 
Son, who conducts the great scheme appointed for our 
salvation." 

(p. 359.) Although this trust in God may, through 
grace, be exercised by persons who possess no other in- 
formation on divine subjects, than that which they 
derive from natural religion, yet the declarations of 
Scripture respecting faith, have been, in all ages, ad- 
dressed to that part of mankind, who have enjoyed the 
light of an outward revelation!'^ 

(p. 360.) " This faith is the means through which we 
receive the Holy Spirit, by whom we are regenerated 
and sanctified. Lastly, a saving faith in Jesus is not 
merely intellectual, it sjjrings from the heart, works by 
love, gradually accepts the Saviour in all his offices, and 
gently constrains the Christian to take up his daily cross 
and follow Christ." 

(Address to Mechanics of Manchester, p. 7) : But 
you ask me on what moral and religious knowledge 
is founded ] I answer, on that lohich is the basis of every 
other branch of knowledge — belief,''^ 

Contrast the above with 

Robert Barclay (Apol. Prop. II. pp. 33 & 34, Ameri- 
can edit.) : The fourth thing affirmed is, that these 
revelations [the immediate revelation of Christ by the 
Holy Spirit] were the objects of the saints' faith of old. 



APPENDIX. 



283 



This will easily appear by the definition of faith, and 
considering what its object is ; for which we shall not 
dive into the curious and various notions of the school- 
men, but stay on the plain and positive words of the 
apostle Paul, who (Heb. xi.) describes it two ways : 
' Faith (saith he) is the substance of things hoped for, 
the evidence of things not seen which, as the apostle 
illustrateth it in the same chapter by many examples, is 
no other but a firm and certain belief of the mind, 
whereby it restetJi, and in a sense possesseth the sub- 
stance of some things hoped for, through its confidence 
in the promise of God; and thus the soul hath a most 
firm evidence, by its faith, of things not yet seen or come 
to pass. The object of this faith is the promise, word^ 
or testimony of God, speaking in the mind. Hence it 
hath been generally afHrmed, that the object of faith is 
Deus loquens, &c., that is, Grod speaking, fee, which is 
also manifest from all those examples deduced by the 
apostle throughout that whole chapter, whose faith was 
founded neither upon any outward testimony, nor upon 
the voice or writing of man, but upon the revelation of 
G-od s will manifest unto them and in them." 

(p. 37.) Moreover, if the faith of the ancients were 
not one and the same with ours, i. e. agreeing in suh- 
stance therewith, and receiving the same definition, it 
had been impertinent for the apostle (Heb. xi.) to have 
illustrated the definition of our faith by the examples of 
that of the ancients, or to go about to move us by the 
example of Abraham, if Abraham's faith were different 
in nature from ours. Nor doth any difference arise 
hence, because they believed in Christ with respect to 
his appearance outwardly as future, and we as already 
appeared ; for neither did they then so believe in him 
to come, as not to feel him present with them, and wit- 
ness him near ; seeing the apostle saith, * They all 
drank of that spiritual rock which followed them, which 
rock was Christ; nor do we so believe concerning his 
appearance past, as not also to feel and know him vre- 
sent with us, and to feed upon him, ' except Christ (saith 
the apostle) be in you, ye are reprobates ;' so that both 
our faith is one, terminating in one and the same 
thing" 



284 



APPENDIX. 



William Penn (Prim. Christ. Rev. Chap. XL) : Yet 
we are very ready to declare to the whole world, that 
we cannot think men and women can be saved by their 
belief of the one [Christ's coming in the flesh] without 
the sense and experience of the other [His inward and 
spiritual appearance]." 

George Fox (Journal, Leeds edit. Vol. II. p. 217) : 
They w^hose faith doth not stand in the poiver of God, 
cannot exalt his kingdom that stands in power ; there- 
fore every one's faith must stand in the power of God. 
All that are in the true faitli, that stands in the power of 
God, will judge them as carnal, and jiidge down that 
carnal part in them that cries up Paul or Apollos ; that 
their faith may stand in the power of God, and that they 
may exalt Christ, the author of it. For every one's eye 
ought to be to Jesus ; and every just man and woman 
may live by their faith, which Jesus Christ is the author 
and finisher of. By this faith every man and woman 
may see God, who is invisible ; this faith gives the vic- 
tory, and by it he hath access to God. So every one's 
faith and hope standing in the power of God. all therein 
have unity, victory, and access to God's throne of 
grace ; in which faith they please God. By this faith 
they are saved, by this faith they obtain the good re- 
port, and subdue all the mountains that have been be- 
twixt them and God." 

Isaac Penington (Works, Vol. I. p. 272): '^What 
then is that faith which is the gift of God ? It is that 
power of believing which springs out of the seed of eter- 
nal life ; and leaves the heart, not with notions of know- 
ledge, but with the power of life. The other faith is 
drawn out of man's nature, by considerations which 
affect the natural part, and is kept alive by natural exer- 
cises of reading, hearing, praying, studying, meditating 
in that part ; but this springs out of a seed of life given, 
and grows up in the life of that seed, and feeds on 
nothing but the flesh and blood of Christ ; in which is 
the living virtue, and immortal nourishment of that 
which is immortal. This faith, at its first entrance, 



APPENDIX, 



285 



strikes that part dead in which the other faith did gi'ow, 
and by its growth perfects that death, and raiseth up a 
Ufe which is of another nature than ever entered into 
the heait of man to conceive." 

(p. 274.) The tnie faith (the faith of the gospel, the 
faith of the elect, the faith which saves the sinner from 
sin, and makes him more than a conqueror over sin 
and the powers of darkness) is a belief in the nature of 
Grod ; which belief giveth entrance into, fixeth in, and 
causeth an abiding in that nature. Unbelief entereth 
into death, and fixeth in the death ; faith giveth entrance 
into, and fixeth in the life. Faith is an ingi^afting into 
the vine, a partaking of the nature of the vine, a suck- 
ing of the juice of life from the vine : which nothing is 
able to do but the faith, but the belief in the nature. 
So then faith is not a believing the history of the Scrip- 
tures, or a belie \ang that Christ died for sinners in 
general, or for me in particular; for all this may be 
done by the unbelieving nature (like the Jew) ; but a 
uniting to the nature of God in Christ, which the unbe- 
liever starts from in the midst of his belie^~ing of these. 
Yet I do not deny that all these things are to be be- 
lieved, and are believed loiik the true faith ; but this I 
affirm, that they also may be believed without the true 
faith ; and that such a belief of these doth not determine 
a man to be a believer in the sight of God, but only the 
union with the nature of that life from w^hence all these 
sprang, and in which alone they have their true value." 

Jos, Tliipps (Original and Present State of Man, 
p. 152) : Gospel faith in man believes the truth of all 
that is revealed by the Spirit, both in the heart, and in 
the sacred writings ; because it feels it, savors it, and 
is one with it. It not only assents to the scriptural 
accounts, of the incarnation, and w^hole process of 
Christ in Judea ; but it also receives his internal appear- 
ance, consents to his operation, and concurs wdth it. 
That faith \vhich stands wholly upon hearsay, tradi- 
tion, reading, or imagination, is but a distant kind of 
ineffectual credence, which permits the soul to remain 
in the bondage of corruption. The wicked may go 



286 



APPENDIX. 



this length towards gospel faith ; but the true faith lays 
hold of, and cleaves to the Spirit of Truth, in its inward 
manifestations ; wherein it stands, and whereby it 
grows, till the heart is purified, the world overcome, 
and salvation obtained. This faith is as aflame of pure 
love in the heart to God. It presseth towards him, 
panteth after him, resigns to him, confides and lives in 
him. The mystery of it is held in a pure conscience, 
and in the effective power of the everlasting gospel, &:c. 
&c. It is the faith by which the members of Christ 
truly live, and abide as such. It is their invincible 
shield ; and the knowledge of Christ in them is the proof 
of their possessing it. Abundance is said of the nature, 
power, and effects of this all-conquering faith ; but I 
hope this will be sufficient to show, though, in its com- 
plete sense, it includes a belief of all that is said of Christ, 
and by Christ, in Holy Writ, it goes deeper, and ariseth 
not in man merely from the man, but takes its birth 
and receives its increase from the operation of the Holy 
Spirit in him ; which works by it to the sanctification of 
the heart, and the production of every Christian virtue." 

UNIVERSAL AND SAYING LIGHT. 

jr. J". Gurney (Essays, American edit. p. 366) : The 
multitude of the Gentiles, who gave themselves up to 
idolatrous and other vicious practices, were condemned 
for this very reason, that they sinned against the light 
of nature — and both practised and promoted iniquity, 
although they knew the judgment of God, that they 
which commit such things are worthy of death." — [In 
a note at the bottom of the page ] I beg it may be 
understood, that by the light of nature, I mean, simply, 
the light which God has communicated to the souls of men, 
independently of an outwardly revealed religion." 

(p. 392.) God has written his moral law on the 
hearts of all men, or in other words, has interivoven a 
sense of it with their very nature T 

(Portable Evidences, p. 23.) '*Yet it must be allowed 
that it is chiefly through revelation that we are thus led 
to reason from creation and providence, and that merely 



APPENDIX. 



287 



natural religion, even tvith the additional light of tradition, 
has left the heathen world in all ages, in a state oi great 
da?'kness resipectiug the Supreme Being." 

(p. 164.) " Their case is not to be confounded with 
that of the uninstructed heathen, who have never heard 
the truth. To these [viz. instructed persons] the gos- 
pel has been preached,*' [plainly implying that it has 
not to the others.] 

Contrast the above with 

George Fox (Journal, Vol. I. p. 112): saw that 
Christ died for all men, and was a propitiation for all ; 
and enlightened all men and women with his divine and 
saving light, and that none could be a true believer, but 
who believed in it. I saw that the grace of God, whicli 
hrings salvation, had appeared to all men, and that the 
manifestation of the Spirit of God was given to every 
man to profit withal." 

(p. 224.) I declared to them, that every one that 
cometh into the world^w^.s enlightened by Christ the life ; 
by which light they might see their sins, and Christ, who 
was come to save them from their sins, and died for 
them." 

(p. 420.) ^' Now I was speaking of the heavenly, 
divine light of Christ, with which he enlightens every 
one that cometh into the world, to give them the know- 
ledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus 
their Saviour." 

Rohert Barclay (Apol. Prop. V. & VI.) : And this 
light enlighteneth the hearts of all for a time, in order 
to salvation ; and this is it which reproves the sin of all 
individuals, and would tvorJc out the salvation of all, if 
not resisted. Nor is it less universal than the seed of 
sin, being the purchase of his death, who tasted death 
for every man, &c. For as hence it well follows that 
some of the old philosophers might have been saved, 
so also may some, who by Providence are cast into 
those remote parts of the world where the knowledge 
of the history is wanting, be made partakers of the 



2SS 



APPENDIX. 



divine mystery, if tliey receive and resist not that grace, 
a manifestation \^ hereof is given to every man to profit 
withal. This most certain doctrine being then received, 
that tliere is an evangelical and saving light and grace in 
all, the universaHty of the love and mercy of God to- 
wards mankind, both in the death of his beloved Son, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the manifestation of the 
Light in the heart, is established and confirmed, against 
all the objections of such as deny it. Therefore, Christ 
hath tasted death for every man\ not only for all kinds 
of men, as some vainly talk, but for every man of all 
kinds : the benefit of whose offering is not only extended 
to such who have the distinct outward knowledge of 
His death and sufferings as the same is declared in the 
Scriptures, but even unto those who ai'e necessarily ex- 
cluded from the benefit of this knowledge by some 
ine^^table accident ; which knowledge we willingly 
confess to be very profitable and comfortable, but not 
absolutely needful unto such from whom God himself 
hath withheld it ; yet they may be made partakers of 
the mystery of His death, though ignorant of the his- 
toiy, if they sufter his seed and light, enlightening their 
hearts, to take place, in icliicli lights communion with the 
FatJier and the Son is enjoyed^^ &:c, 

THE " GOSPEL." 

J. J, Gurney (Essay on Love to God. p. 5) : In ef- 
fecting this blessed change, &:g. the Holy Spirit makes 
use of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, as his grand, 
appointed instrument. That Gospel written in the Holy 
Scriptures, and preached by the Lord's messengers, is 
a spiritual weapon of heavenly mould ; and when 
toielded by a divine hand, it penetrates the heart, and 
beco77ies * the power of God unto salvation.' " 

Contrast with 

Rohert Barclay (Apol. Prop. V. & VL p. 168.) : 
Thirdly, this saving spiiitual Hght is the Gospel, which 
the apostle saith expressly is preached in every creature 



APPENDIX. 



289 



under heaven ; even that very G-ospel ^vhereof Paul was 
made a minister, Col. i. 23. For the G-ospel is not a 
mere declaration of good things, being the yower of God 
unto salvation to all those that believe. E.ora. i. 16. Though 
the outward, declaration of the Gospel be taken some- 
times for the Gospel, yet it is but figuratively, and by a 
metonymy. For, to speak properly, the Gospel is this 
inward, power and life which preacheth glad tidings in 
the hearts of all men. offering salvation unto them, and 
seeking to redeem them from their iniquities, and there- 
fore it is said to be preached in every creature under 
heaven : whereas there are many thousands of men 
and women to whom the outward Gospel was never 
preached." 

George Fox (Journal, Vol. I. p. 251) : Waiting in 
the light, you will receive the power of God, which is 
the Gospel of peace ; that you may be shod ^^-ith it, 
and know that in one another, which raiseth up the seed 
of God," &c. 

(p. 401.) For though ye have the four books, yet 
the Gospel is hid to you ; who are strangling at the work 
of God, and do not believe that Christ hath enlightened 
every one that cometh into the world." 

(Vol. IT. p. *25.) In their reasoning, they said, ' the 
gospel was the four books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John,' and they called it natural, I told them, * the 
Gospel was the power of God, which was preached be- 
fore Matthew, !^Iark. Luke, and John, or any of them 
were printed or written ; and it was preached to every 
creature, (of which a great part might never see, nor 
hear of those four books) so that every creature was to 
obey the power of God ; for Christ, the spiritual man, 
would judge the world according to the Gospel, that 
is, according to his invisible power.' *' 

OF THE SCRIPTURES A?."D THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

J, J. Gurney (Essay on Love to God, p. o) : In ef- 
fecting this blessed change in the affections of fallen 
man, the Holy Spirit makes use of the Gospel of our 

13 



290 



APPENDIX. 



Lord Jesus Christ as his grand appointed instrument. 
That Gospel, written m the Holy Scriptures, and preached 
by the Lord's messengers," &c. 

(p. 39.) The love of Christ is indeed an animating 
subject, full of joy and sublimity ; and to dwell on its 
principal features, under the guidance of Scripture^ must 
be regarded as one of our happiest privileges." 

(Strictures on Truth Vindicated, p. 24) : The com- 
parison v^^hich some of the early Friends v^ere accus- 
tomed to institute between the Spirit as the primary 
rule, and the Scriptures as the secondary one, was not 
intended, as I conceive, to apply to the question of 
authority, but only to that of order, and dignity,''^ 

(Essay on Love to God, p. 25.) What a blessing, 
that his holiness is established beyond the possibility of 
a doubt, by that intuitive rule of right, which in charac- 
ters more or less legible, he has condescended to write, 
by his Spirit, on the hearts of all men ! It is in the 
Holy Scriptures, however, that the theology of nature 
is cleared and confirmed." ^' Let us, then, under the 
guidance of prophets and apostles, learn to contemplate 
God as our Father,'' &c. 

(Essays, Amer. edit. p. 383.) In the fulfilment of 
\}f\^ ivriiten prophecy , in the wisdom of the written doc- 
trine, in the purity of the written law, — in the harmony 
of the contents of the Bible amidst almost endless va- 
riety, — and in its efficacy, as the principal means em- 
ployed by Divine Providence for the illumination, con- 
version, and spiritual edification of man, the enquirer 
cannot fail to perceive unquestionable indications of the 
divine origin of Holy Writ." Therefore, the person 
who searches for that which is revealed may safely direct 
his unhesitating attention to that which is written." 

(Portable Evidences, p. 3. edit. 1832.) But the 
moral and spiritual force of the Sacred Volume is that 
which chiefly serves to fasten its contents on the mind 
of every honest inquirer, whether more or less educated, 
and to produce a settled conviction of its divine ori- 
gin.' 

(p. 5.) It [the Bible] is a text book for moral and 
religious teaching, which knows no rival, and to the use 
and application of which there appears no limit," — 



APPENDIX. 



291 



*■ Whatsoever, in the preaching or wiitings of modem 
Christians, has any tendency lo convert, purify, and save 
the souls of men, never fails to be found in its original 
form, in the Bible." 

(p. 3 1 . ) " Now the information which the Bible gives, 
respecting the Supreme Being, whether considered as 
a harmonious whole, or viewed in its principal details, 
is to be found originally in the Bible aloneJ' 

(p. 33.) The moral law, as revealed in Scripture, par- 
takes of the character of its author, &c. It applies to 
«Z/ circumstances, comprehends tt/Z conditions, regulates 
all motives, directs and controls all overt acts T 

(p. 69.) In the Bible all is simple, powerful, and 
practicable. While enough is hidden to humble us un- 
der a sense of our own ignorance, enough is revealed to 
direct our faith, and regulate our conduct^ 

(p. 91.) They [the Scriptures] unfold the law of 
God in all its strength and spirituality in all the glorious 
vo.riety of its details ^ 

(p. 101.) *' Now it is in the Scriptures only that the 
attributes of our Heavenly Father are fully made known 
to us. And therefore it is only through the religion of 
the Bible, that we can obtain an adequate notion of sin." 

(p. 105.) " The Bible, which alone fully reveals the 
nature and character of sin, expressly declares,'' &:c. 

(p. 170.) " When we open the volume of Scripture, 
and propose that interpretation of its contents — espe- 
cially of its more mysterious parts — which is demanded 
by the plain laws of criticism — laws which good sense 
has established, and which are familiar to every scho- 
lar — we again appeal to enlightened reason," &c. &c. 

(Portable Evidences, p. 100.) But it is only through 
the medium of revealed religion [meaning, obviously 
from the context, the Bible] that we obtain a proper 
conception of the nature of sin, or are enabled to form 
aright estimate of the moral condition of mankind." 

(Address to Manchester Mechanics, p. 6.) Moral 
and religious knowledge 1 And where is this to be ob- 
tained ? Certainly we may furnish our minds with 
some considerable portions of it by reading the book of 
nature and providence ; but there is another book which 
must be regarded as its depository — a book in which all 



292 



APPENDIX. 



things^ moral and sjnritual, belonging to the welfare of 
man, diVe fully unfolded." — I believe it is also true 
that the law of God is written, in characters 7no7'e or less 
legible, on the hearts of all men. But for a full account 
of his glorious attributes — for the hnoidedge of religmi 
in all its beauty, and strength, and completeness, — we 
must have recourse to the Bible — we must meditate on 
the written word. There the z^^-^cZ^ moral law is deline- 
ated with a pencil of heavenly light," &c. &c. 

(Sketch of Wilberforce, p. 25.) ^' Dr. Doddridge's 
Rise and Progress, and Wilberforce's own Book on 
Christianity — whatsoever there is of a converting na- 
ture in these and such otlier works, is originally ex- 
pressed oidy'iu the Bible '' 

Contrast the above with 

Robert Barclay ( Apol. Prop. III.) : Nevertheless, 
because they Fthe Holy Scriptures] are only a declara- 
tion of the Fountain, and 7iot the fountain itself, there- 
fore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of 
all truth and knowledge, nor yet the adequate primary 
rule of faith and manners. Yet because ihey give a 
true and faithful testimony of the first foundation, they 
are and maybe esteemed a secondary rule, subordinate 
to the spirit, from which they have all their excellency 
and certainty — for as by the inward testimony of the 
Spirit we do alone truly know them, so they testify, 
that the Spirit is that Guide by which the saints are led 
into all truth ; therefore, according to the Scriptures, the 
Spirit is the first and principal leader." 

(p. 74.) The principal rule of Chirstians under the 
Gospel is not an outward letter, nor law outwardly 
written and delivered, but an inward spiritual law, en- 
graven in the heart, the laic of the Spirit of Life, the 
word that is nigh in the heart and. in the mouths " That 
which is given to Christians for a rule and guide, must 
needs be so full, that it may clearly and distinctly guide 
and order them in all things and occurrences that may 
fall out. But in that there are numberless things, with 
regard to their circumstances, which particular Chris- 
tians may be concerned dn, for which there can be no 



APPENDIX. 



293 



particular rule had in the Scriptures ; therefore the 
Scriptures cannot be a rule to them" — AVh at Scrip- 
ture-rule shall inform me, whether it be my duty to 
preach in this or that place, in France or England, Hol- 
land or Germany!" &c. The general rules of the 
Scriptures, viz. to be diligent in my duty, &c. can give 
me no light in this thing." 

" Through and by the clearness which that Spirit 
gives us it is, that we are only best rid of those difficul- 
ties that occur to us concerning the Scriptuies." The 
real and undoubted experience whereof, I myself have 
been a witness of," &c. 

*^If it be then asked me, whether I think hereby to 
render the Scriptures altogether uncertain, or useless — 
I answer, not at all. The proposition itself declares how 
much I esteem them ; and provided that to the Spirit 
from which they came, be but granted that place which 
the Scriptures themselves give it. I do freely concede to 
the Scriptures the second place, even whatsoever they 
say of themselves. It is to be observed, that it is only 
the spiritual man that can make aright use of them — 
as for the others, the apostle Peter plainly declares, 
that the unstable and unlearned wrest them to their 
own destmction : these were they that were unlearned 
in the divine and heavenly learning of the Spirit, not in 
hiwian and school literature^ 

(Quakerism Confirmed, Barclay's Works, Yol. III. 
p. 106.) Now as to the second branch of their argu- 
ment, that the Scriptures are a sufficient objective reve- 
lation of all things necessary to salvation ; tins we alto- 
gether denij, as is said. For although the Scriptures are 
a full-enough declaration of all doctrines and principles, 
both essential and integral of Christian religion ; yet our 
souls need a more near and immediate discovery of God 
than the Scripture, which is but a report of him, that he 
may feed and nourish us by his divine manifestations.'' 

(Apol. Prop. IL p. 66.) " As the description of the 
light of the sun, or of curious colors, to a blind man,w^ho, 
though of the largest capacity, cannot so well under- 
stand it by the most acute and lively descriDtion, as a 
child can by seeing them ; so neither can the natural 
man, of the largest capacity, by the best words, even 



294 



APPENDIX. 



Scripture words, so well understand the mysteries of 
God's kingdom, as the least and weakest child who 
tasteth them, by having them revealed inwardly and 
objectivehj by the Spirit." 

George Fox (Journal, vol. I., p. 187.) : I directed 
them to the Divine light of Christ and his spirit in their 
hearts, which would let them see all the evil thoughts, 
words, and actions, that they had thought, spoken, and 
acted ; by which light they might see their sin, and 
also their Saviour Christ Jesus, to save them from their 
sins. This I told them was the first step to peace, even 
to stand still in the light that showed them their sins and 
transgressions ; by which they might come to see how 
they were in the fall of old Adam, in darkness and 
death, strangers to the convenant of promise, and with- 
out God in the world ; and by the same light they might 
see Christ, that died for them, to be their Redeemer 
and Saviour, and their way to God." 

Page 429, [nearly in the same terms.] 

1, Penington (Works, vol. I., p. 20.) : In my heart 
and soul T honor the Scriptures, and long to read them 
throughout with the pure eye, and in the pure light of 
the living spirit of God : but the Lord preserve me 
from reading one line of them in my own will, or in- 
terpreting any part of them according to my oivn under- 
standing, but only as I am guided, led, and enlightened 
by him, in the will and understanding which comes 
from him. And here all Scripture, every writing of 
God's spirit, which is from the breath of his life, is 
profitable to build up and perfect the man of God." 

(Works, vol. I., p. 277.) : That eye that can read 
the Scriptures with the light of its own understanding ; 
that can consider and debate, and take up senses and 
meanings of it, without the immediate life and power ; 
that is the eye that may gather what it can from the 
letter, but shall never see into the life, nor taste of the 
true knowledge ; for Christ, who alone opens and gives 
the knowledge, hides the pearl from that eye.'' 



APPENDIX. 



295 



JUSTIFICATION. 

J. J. Gurney (Essays, American edition, p. 357.) : 
*' From these premises it followSj that in the order of 
the grace of Godi, justification 2>rececles sanctification, and 
that the faith in Jesus Christ, by which the ungodly are 
justified, has respect, in a very pre-eminent manner, to 
the atonement which he has made for the sins of the 
world." 

(p. 35S.) ''While however the justification of the sin- 
ner, through faith in a crucified Redeemer, ^precedes the 
work of sanctification, its close and inseparable con- 
nexion with that work is evinced by the fact, that in the 
economy of God's spiritual government this very faith 
is the constituted means, through vjhich we obtain the 
gift of the Holy Spirit." 

Contrast the above with — 

Richard Claridoge (Works, as quoted. Friends, vol. 
XI., p. 231.) : " If we attend to the order of the apos- 
tle's testimony (I Cor. vi : 2,) we must be washed and 
sanctified^ before we can be justified. And if we come 
to witness the eflficacious v/ork of the spirit of Christ, in 
our cleansing and sanctification, we shall know our- 
selves to be in a state of justification and not till then. 
For though Christ be a propitiation for the sins of the 
whole world, yet no man can comfortably apply him as 
such to his own soul, but as he first experiences the 
sanctifying work of the spirit.' ' 

'' The Antinomian insisted much upon the priority of 
justification to sanctification. alleging that men are first 
justified, and then sanctified. R. Claridge replied, that 
complete justification denoted a being m.ade inwardly 
just, by putting an end to sin, finishing transgression, 
and bringing in Christ's everlasting righteousness ; and 
this being the work of the sph'it in sanctification, sanc- 
tification must of necessity ^recedie our justification." 

_R. Barclay {A^oV Prop. V'll., p. 196.): "As many 
as resist not this lighty but receive the same, it becomes 



296 



APPENDIX. 



in them an holy, pure and spu'itual birth, bringing forth 
holiness, righteousness, purity, and all those other bless- 
ed fruits which are acceptable to God : by which holy 
birth, to wit: Jesus Chr':st for vied within us, and work- 
ing his work in us, as we are sanctified, so are we 
justified in the sight of God," &c. 

(p. 217,) Therefore, as none are said to be sancti- 
fied that are really unholy, while they are such ; so 
neither can any be truly said tu be justified, while they 
actually remain unjust," &c. 

(p. 223.) Having thus sufficiently proved, that by 
justif cation is to be understood a really being made 
righteous, I do boldly affirm, and that not only from a 
notional knowledge, but from a real, inward, experi- 
mental feeling of the thing, that the immediate, near- 
est, or formal cause (if we must in condescension to 
some use this word) of a man's justification in the sight 
of God, is, the revelation of Jesus Christ in the soid, 
{changing, altering and renewing the mind, by whom 
even the author of this inward work) thus fomied and 
revealed, we are truly justified and accepted in the 
sight of God," &c, 

(p. 225.) That it is by this revelation of Jesus 
Christ, and the new creation in us, that v\^e are justi- 
fied, doth evidently appear from that excellent saying 
of the apostle," &c. " According to his mercy he hath 
saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost," &c. *'Now, that v/ hereby 
we are saved, that we are also no doubt justified by; 
which words are in this respect synonymous. Here 
the apostle clearly ascribes the immediate cause of jus- 
tification to this inward work of regeneration, which is 
Jesus Christ revealed in the soul, as being that which 
formally states us in a capacity of being reconciled with 
God," &c. 

William Penn (Primitive Christianity Revived. — 
Works, Vol. v., p. 310.) : *' We cannot believe that 
Christ's death and sufferings so satisfy God, or justify 
men, as that they are tlierchy accepted of God : they 
are, indeed, thereby put into a state cajmhle of being 
accepted of God, and, through the obedience of faith, 
and sanctification of the spirit, are in a state of accept- 



APPENDIX. 



297 



ance; for we can never think a man justified before 
God, while self-condemned," &c. 

(p. 311.) " In short, justification consists of two 
parts, or hath a two-fold consideration, viz : justifica- 
tion from the guilt of sin and justification from 
the 2^owe?^ and pollution of sin, and in this sense jus- 
tification gives a man a full and clear acceptance be- 
fore God ; for want of this latter part it is, that 
so many souls, religiously inclined, are often under 
doubts, scruples, and despondencies, notwithstanding 
all that their teachers tell them of the extent and effi- 
cacy of the first part of justification. And it is too 
general an unhappiness among the professors of Chris- 
tianity, that they are too apt to cloak their own ac- 
tive and passive disobedience with the active and pas- 
sive obedience of Christ : — The first part of justification 
we do reverently and humbly acknowledge, is only 
for the sake of the death and sufferings of Christ : 
nothing we can do, though by the operation of the 
Holy Spirit, being able to cancel old debts, or wipe out 
old scores; it is the power and efficacy of that propi- 
tiatory offering, upon faith and repentance, that justi- 
fies us from the sins that are ijast ; and it is the power 
of Christ's spirit in our hearts, that purifies and makes 
us acceptable before God. For till the heart of man 
is purged from sin, God will never accept of it. He 
reproves, rebukes, and condemns those that entertain 
sin there, and therefore such cannot be said to be in a 
justified state; condemnation and justification being 
contraries ; so that they that hold themselves in a jus- 
tified state by the active and passive obedience of 
Christ, while they are not actively and passively obe- 
dient to the spirit of Christ Jesus, are under a strong 
and dangerous delusion." 

1. Fenington (Works, Vol. I., p. 96.) : Mark then, 
the justification or redemption is not by believing of a 
thing done vvithout man (though that also is to be be- 
lieved) but by receiving Him into the heart.^^ 

13* 



298 



APPENDIX. 



IMPUTATIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

J. J. Gurney (Portable Evidences, p. 58 ) : Yet 
surely it is because of his [Christ's] infinite v^orth and 
dignity in the glorious Godhead, that Christ becomes 
* our righteousness/ and that his righteousness, imfut- 
ed to believers, procures for them the reward of a 
happy immortality." 

(p. 138.) In himself indeed as a transgressor from 
his birth, he [man] is vile and 2?olluied, hut by the blood 
of Jesus sprinkled on his heart, his conscience is purg- 
ed from every dead work ; and having obtained an 
interest in the Saviour of men, he wears a rohe of 
righteousness in which there is no spot." 

(Essays, p. 390.) Our only claim on the heavenly 
inheritance therefore consists in this ; that God is pleas- 
ed to impute to those who believe, the perfect right- 
eousness of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Contrast the above with — 

Robert Barclay (Truth Cleared, &c.j Works, Vol. I , 
p. 177.) : ^' Thy last argument from 2 Cor. v: 21, is 
most absurd and impious, for accordingly it would fol- 
low, that as Christ was made sin for us, or suffered for 
our sins, who himself had no sin, no not in the least, 
so we may be made righteous before God, though we 
have no righteousness, no holiness, no faith, no repen- 
tance, no mortification, no good thing wrought in us. 
And doth not this strengthen the wicked, ungodly and 
profane in their presumption, to have title to Christ's 
righteousness We find the apostle makes a far 
better inference from Christ, his dying for us, 2 Cor. 
vi : 15. * He died for all, that they who live, might 
not any longer live to themselves, but to God;' yea, 
and every where he holdeth forth inward holiness and 
righteousness, as that without which n6 man can lay 
claim to Christ.' ' If any man be in Christ, he is 
a new creature ;' but he doth not say, God reputes him 
a new creature, though he be not really renewed." 



APPENDIX. 



299 



1. Penington (Works, Vol. I , p. 97.) : He whom 

God maketh righteous, was ungodly hefore He made 
him righteous. There was nothing but unrighteous- 
ness could be imputed to him in transgression, before 
He gave him His Son, and 7nade liirn. righteous in his 
Son ; for nothing is righteous with God but Christ, rtud 
man only as he is taken into his righteousness : which 
is done not by a believing from the bare letter, but by 
a receiving of faith in the life!'' 

(p. 97.) Faith is the gift of God, and this gift jus- 
tifies ; this is that which God imputeth for righteous- 
ness The faith is in the blood, and the blood in the 
Son ; and in the true receiving of the Son, both the faith 
and the blood are known and felt. These are true 
words, though hard to the fleshly earP 

THE SABBATH. 

J. J. Gurney (on the Sabbath, p. X.) : In applying 
to the Christian's day of rest and worship, the name of 
Sahhath, I consider that I am fully justified both by 
the simple meaning of the word, &c.'' 

(p. 1.) The moral and therefore permanent nature of 
that divine institution," &c. &c. 

(p. 85.) " And the day on which Jesus rose from 
the dead, hdidihe en hallowed by the Lord himself," &c. 
&c. 

(p. 85.) The Lord of the Sabbath was again honor- 
ing the day which He had chosen for himself!^ 

(p. 102.) On this hallowed, day we are bound by 
a sacred obligation," &c. &c. 

(p. 104.) The whole man ought then to be present- 
ed, a living sacrifice unto God." 

(p. 107.) "Although these assemblies [in the middle 
of the weekj are the means of much edification, they are 
seldom found to serve the purpose of social worship 
and communion, in their full extent." 

(Contribution to a Lady's Album, Norwich, 1827, p. 
5) : '* No person of serious reflection would, I pre- 
sume, object to those outward institutions — such as the 
tSabhath day^ appointed hours and places of meeting, 



300 



APPENDIX. 



(Sec. &:c., which are essential, in the order of Pro\ic!ence, 
to the congregational worship of the Deity," &:c. &c. 

Contrast the above with — 

Robert Barclay (Apol. Prop. XI.. p. 340) : We 
may not therefore think with the papists, that these 
days are liohj^ and lead people into a superstitious ob- 
servation of them; being persuaded that all days are 
alike holym the sight of God." We not seeing any 
ground in Scripture for it, cannot be so superstitious as to 
believe^ that either the Jewish Sabbath now continues, 
or that the Jirst day of the week is the antitype thereof, 
or the true Christian Sahhath. ; which with Calvin we 
believe to have a more spiritual sense, and therefore 
we know moral ohligation by the fourth command- 
ment, or elsewhere, to keep the first day of the week 
more than any other, or any holiness inherent in it. 
But first, forasmuch as it is necessary that there be some 
time set apart for the saints to meet together to wait 
upon God ; and that secondly, it is fit that at some 
times they be freed from their other outward affairs ; 
and that thirdly, reason and equity doth allow that ser- 
vants and beasts have some time allowed them to be 
eased from their continued labor ; and that fourthly, 
it appears that the apostles and primitive Christians 
did use the first day of the iceeh for these purposes ; 
we find ourselves sufficiently moved for these causes to 
do so also, without superstitiously straining the Scrip- 
tures for another reason, which, that it is not to be 
there found, many Protestants, yea, Calvin himself, 
upon the fourtli command, hath abundantly evinced. 
And though w^e therefor meet, and abstain from work- 
ing upon this day, yet doth that not hinder us from hav- 
inor meetings also for worship at other times.** 

"(Truth Cleared, &c., Works, p. 204, Vol. I.) : ^Mnd 
the Lord's people have frequent times, more than once 
a week, wherein, laying aside their outward affairs for 
a season, they may and do meet together to wait upon 
the Lord, and be quickened, refreshed, and instructed 
by Him, and worship Him in his spirit, and may be 
useful unto one another in exhortation, or admonition, 



APPEND :X. 



301 



or any other way, as the Lord shall furnish." ^' And 
it were said, if the Lord had only allowed but one day 
of seven unto this effect." And our souls do oft bless 
the Lord, in allowing us many times of lefreshment 
and strengthening, to the establishing and confirming 
us in his love and life, and disburdening our minds of 
earthly things much more frequently than in one day 
of seven," &c. &:c. 

George Fox (Journal. Vol. IL, p. ISS) : "For we 
were redeemed out of days by Christ Jesus, and 
brought into the day which hath sprung from on high, 
and are come into him who is Lord of the Je^\Tsh Sab- 
bath, and the substance of the Jews' signs.'* — vSee also 
Discipline of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on this sub- 
ject. 

PRAYER. 

J. J, Gurney, (Observations, p. 291, 7th edit.) : No 
one can, with any show of reason, deny that our Lord's 
precept respecting our entering into the closet — shut- 
ting the door — and praying to our Father, who seeth in 
secret, is to be understood literaUy ; and therefore such 
a practice, as far as circumstances allow, is universally 
incumbent upon Christians. If we would grvAv in 
o^race, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
it must be our frequent practice — especially at the 
commencement and end of each day — to retire into 
solitude, and there seek for ability to pour out our 
prayers to the Lord, with a diligent and fervent spirit. 
Nor ought we to forget, that we may be assisted in the 
performance of this Christian duty, by kneeling down 
in a deliberate and solemn maimer, 6cc. (p. 292.) To 
the occasional use of the prayer which our Lord con- 
descended to recite, I cannot conceive that any reflect- 
ing Christian can for a moment object : and I helieve 
that our children ous^ht to he accustomed^ to it from early 
lifer 

(On Love to God, p 77.) ith respect to our 

children, more particularly, it is surely our duty, by 
watchful instruction, and sometimes by uniting with 
them in their private religious exercises, to train them 



302 



APPENDIX. 



in the liahit of daily sprayer — just as we see the parent 
bird, by frequent example and exj^erlment, teaching 
and inducing her young ones to use the wings which 
God has given them.'* 

Contrast the above with 

Robert Barclay, (Apol. Prop. XI. p. 364.) We find 
that Jesus Christ, the author of the Christian reUgion, 
prescribes no set form of worship to his children. 
Note. If any object here, that the LiOrd's prayer is a 
prescribed fonn of prayer, and therefore of worship given 
by Christ to his chddren, I answer, first, this ca,nnot be 
objected by any sort of Christians that I know, because 
there are none who use not other prayers, or that limit 
their worship to this. Secondly, this was commanded 
to the disciples, while yet weak, before they had re- 
ceived the dispensation of the Grospel ; not that they 
should only use it in praying, but that He might show 
them by one example, how that their prayers ought to 
be short, and not like the long prayers of the Pharisees. 
And that this was the use of it, appears by all their 
prayers, which divers saints afterwards made use of, 
whereof the Scripture makes mention ; for none made 
use of this, neither repeated it, but used other words, ac- 
cording as the thing required, and as the spirit gave 
utterance. Thirdly, that this ought to be so understood, 
appears from Rom. viii. 26, where the Apostle saith, 
* We know not what we should pray for as we ought, 
but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us,' &c. 
But if this prayer had been such a prescribed form of 
prayer to the church, that had not been true, neither 
had they been ignorant what to pray, nor should they 
have needed the help of the spirit to teach them." (p. 
392.) *' Our adversaries, whose religion is all for the 
most part outside, and such whose acts are the mere 
product of man's natural will and abilities, as they can 
preach, so can they pray when they please, and there- 
fore have their set particular prayers. I meddle not 
with the controversies among themselves concerning 
this, some of them being for set prayers as a liturgy^ 
others for such as are conceived extempore: it suffices 



APPENDIX. 



303 



me that all of tliem agree in this, — that the motions 
and influence of the spirit of God are not necessary to 
be previous thereunto ; and therefore, they have set 
times in their public worship, as before and after preach- 
ing, and in i\\q\y iirivate devotion, as morning and eve- 
ning^ and before and after meat, and other such occa- 
sions, at which they precisely set about the performing 
of their prayers, by speaking words to God, whether 
they feel any motion or influence of the spirit or not ; 
so that some of the chiefest have confessed that they 
have thus prayed without the motions or assistance of 
the spirit, acknowledging that they sinned in so doing ; 
yet they said they looked upon it as their duty so to do, 
though to pray without the spirit be sin. We freely 
confess that prayer is both very profitable, and a neces- 
sary duty commanded, and fit to be practised frequent- 
ly by all Christians ; but as we can do nothing without 
Christ, so neither can we pray without the concurrence 
and assistance of his Spirit. But that the state of the 
controversy may be the better understood, let it be 
considered, first, that prayer is two-fold, inuard and 
outward. Inward prayer is that secret turning of the 
mind towards God, whereby, being secretly touched 
and awakened by the light of Christ in the conscience, 
and so bowed down under the sense of its iniquities, 
unworthiness, and misery, it looks up to God, and join- 
ing with the secret shinings of the seed of God, it 
breathes toward Him, and is constantly breathing forth 
some secret desires and aspirations towards Him. It 
is in this sense that we are so frequently in Scripture 
commanded to pray continuaVy, which cannot be under- 
stood of outward prayer, because it were impossible 
that men should be always upon their knees, express- 
ing words of prayer ; and this would hinder them from 
the exercise of those duties no less positively command- 
ed. Outward prayer is, when as the spirit, being thus 
in the exercise of inward retirement, and feeling the 
breathing of the spirit of God to arise powerfully in 
the soul, receives strength and liberty by a superadded 
motion and influence to bring forth either audible sighs, 
groans, or words, and that either in public assem- 
blies, or in private, or at meat, &c. As then inward 



304 



APPENDIX. 



prayer is necessary at all limes^ so, so long as the day 
of every man's visitation lasteth, he never wants some 
influence, less or more, for the practice of it ; because 
he no sooner retires in his mind, and considers himself in 
God*s presence, but he finds himself in the practice of 
it. The outward exercise of prayer, as needing a 
greater d.Tidsi/_pe?'added influence and motion of the Spirit, 
as it cannot be continually practised, so neither can it 
be so readily, so as to be effectually performed, until 
his mind be some time acquainted with the inward," 
&c. (p. 397.) If any man know not how to pray, 
neither can do it without the help of the Spirit, then it 
is to no purpose for him, but altogether unprojitahle, to 
pray without it." 

L Teningion (Works, Yol I. p. 21 ) : Mark, all 
prayer and supplication must be in the Spirit ; Yea, it 
must be always in the Spirit, which speaks in the heart 
to Grod, and makes the intercession, or it is no prayer. 
If a man speak ever so much from his own spirit, 
with ever so much earnestness and affection, yet it is 
no prayer, no true prayer, but only so far as the Spirit 
moves to it, and so far as the Spirit leads and guides in 
it." 

ON WORSHIP. 

J, J. Gurney (On the Sabbath, p. 105) : In frequent- 
ing the solemn assemblies of the Lord's people, we 
ought to cuh.ivate a joyful and thankful Spirit ; to 
train our minds to a vivid perception of the beauty of 
holiness ; and to delight ourselves in the worship of 
God. Let us ever remember that on these occasions 
we meet for the purpose commemorating the glories 
of creation, the wisdom and goodness of providence, 
and the wonders of redeeming love." 

(Sketch of Wilberforce, Norwich, p. 7. 1838.) In 
the autumn of 1816, I well remember going over from 
the place of my own residence in the neighborhood of 
Norv/ich, partly for the purpose of seeing so great a 
man, and partly for that of persuading him to join our 
party, at the time of the approaching anniversaries of 
the Norfolk Bible and Church Missionary Societies." 



APPENDIX, 



305 



Contrast the above with— 

Robert Barclay (ApoL Prop. XL p. 351, &c.): We 
judge it the duty of all to be diligent in the assembling 
of themselves together — and when assembled, the 
great work of one and all ought to be to vjaitupon God ; 
and returning out of their own thoughts and imaginations^ 
to feel the Lord's presence, and know a gathering into 
his name indeed, where he is in the midst, according to 
his promise. And as every one is thus gathered, and 
so met together inwardly in their spirits, as well as out- 
wardly in their persons, there the secret power and 
virtue of life is known to refresh the soul, and the pure 
motions and breathings of God's Spirit are felt to arise ; 
from which, as words of declaration, prayers or praises 
arise, the acceptable worship is known, which edifies 
the church, and is well pleasing to God. And no man 
here limits the Spirit of God ; but every one puts that 
forth which the Lord puts into their hearts : and it is 
uttered forth, not in mari! s will and ivisdom, but in the 
evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, and of power. 
Yea, though there be not a word spoken, yet is the 
true spiritual worship performed, and the body of 
Christ edified ; yea, it may, and hath often fallen out 
among us. that divers meetings have passed without 
one word ; and yet our souls have been greatly edified 
and refreshed, and our hearts wonderfully overcome 
with the secret sense of God's power and spirit." 

Williara Penii (Primitive Ciiristianity Revived, chap. 
X.) : As the Lord wrought effectually, by his divine 
grace, in the hearts of this people, so he thereby brought 
them to a divine icorship and ministry : Christ's words 
they came to experience, viz., that God was a Spirit, 
and that he would therefore be worshipped in the 
spirit, and in the truth, and that such worshippers the 
Father would seek to w^orship him ] For, bowing to 
the convictions of the Spirit in themselves, in their daily 
course of living, by which they w^ere brought to eschew 
that which was made manifest to them to be evil, and 
to do that which w^as good, they, in their assembling 
together, sat down and waited for the preparation of 



306 



APPENDIX. 



his Holy Spirit, both to let them see their own states 
and conditions before the Lord, and to worship Him 
acceptably; and as they were sensible of wants, or 
shortness, or infirmities, so in the secret of their own 
hearts, prayer would spring to God, through Jesus 
Christ, to help, assist and supply : but they did not 
dare to * awaken their beloved before his time,' or ap- 
proach the throne of the King of Glory, till he held 
out his sceptre ; or take thought what they should 
say, ox after their oxen, or other merCs studied words and 
forms ; for this were to offer strange fire, fee."*' So that 
it is this people's principle, that fire must come from 
heaven, life and power from God, to enable the soul to 
pour out itself acceptably before him. And when a 
coal from His holy altar touches our lips, then can v/e 
pray and praise Him as we ought to do.*' 

I. Feiwigton (Works Vol. H. p. 249.): What is the 
worship, or what are the sacrifices, which the true 
worshippers offer up to God in this holy place ? — 
Answer. — the gifts of His Spirit. These they offer 
up, and nothing else. The breathings which the 
Father, gives into the heart of the child, they are 
breathed back unto Him in the same spirit of life ; in 
the living sense, in the quickening power. Nothing 
of man's wisdom, nothing of man's invention, nothing 
according to man's will, nothing that would please the 
flesh, or seem glorious in its eye, is offered up there ; 
but the exhortations, or directions, or reproofs, that 
sprinor up in God's light, in God's wisdom, they are 
given forth in the leadings, and by the guidance of His 
Spirit, and they reach to the hearts of those to whom 
He pleased to direct them. And this is the ground of 
such meetings, and breakings, and convictions of soul, 
(and such like inward operations) as are frequently 
found in such assemblies. For the living God is there, 
and the dread of His power overspreads the hearts of 
such as are gathered into and assembled in His name ; 
and the life s])rings in the earthen vessels, and the 
Saviour is precious to all that have their S23iritual 
senses.'* 



APPENDIX. 



307 



RESURRECTION. 

X /. Gurney (Essays, p. 134) : With respect to the 
impenitent wicked, their lot during the separate state^ is 
described as one of pain or punishment, &c." 

(p. 141.) " He [man] has within him a never dying 
spirit ; and even that part of him which is destined to 
moulder in the grave, shall in the end be found the 
seed of a spiritual body, and shall be clothed withincor- 
ruption and immortality." 

(Portable Evidences, p. 151.) As it relates to the 
faithful followers of Christ, the resurrection of the body 
clearly forms a part of the scheme of redemption. It 
is represented in Scripture as the last step to the full- 
ness of their happiness, &c. 

Contrast this with 

George Fox (Doctrinal Works, p. 466) : ''Is not this 
your condition, that make such a work about the body 
of Christ, and with what bodies people shall be raised 
up; and the Apostle saith to such: " Thou fool, that 
which thou sowest is not quickened except it die ; and 
that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that 
shall beJ^ So he tells here plainly it is not the same, 
and calls thee a fool that questionest. If thou sowest 
wheat or other corn, let the husbandmen answer thee in 
this." 

(p. 467.) And the apostle further saith, * Behold I 
show you a mystery ; w^e shall not all sleep, but we 
shall be changed.^ Mark — be changed. So not the 
same : which the husbandman will teach thee." 

(p. 946.) And Christ saith, 'Verily I say unto you, 
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it 
abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much 
fruit.' So, what the husbandman soweth, whether 
wheat or other seed, he soweth — mark — he soweth 
not that body that shall be ; but God giveth it a body 
as it pleasethHim and to every seed its own body,'' &c. 

Wm. Penn (Testimony to the Truth of Grod, Works, 
Vol. 3, p. 523) : Because from the authority of Holy 
Scripture, as well as right reason, we deny the resur- 



308 



APPENDIX. 



rection of the same gross and corruptible body, and are 
neither over inquisitive nor critical about what bodies 
we shall have at the resurrection, leaving it to the 
Lord, to give us such bodies as he pleases, (and with 
that we are well pleased and satisfied, and wish all 
others were so too,*) from hence we are made not only 
deniers of the resurrection of an}'- body at all, however 
spiritual or glorified, but eternal rewards too." 

(Defence of Gospel Truths, Works, Vol. 3, p. 549) : 
Here it is we are cautious, and tread softly, remem- 
bering what the apostle says to the curious and inqui- 
sitive upon this head. * But some man will say, how 
are the dead raised up, and with what bodies do they 
come ? 

Thou fool, thou sowest not that body which shall 
be, but bare grain. But God giveth it a body as it 
hath pleased him, and to every seed its own body.' 
Here is the ground of our caution, which the bishop is 
pleased to call suppression, and others, denying of the re- 
surrection. (We have indeed been negative to the gross 
conceit of people concerning the I'ising of this carnal 
body we carry about with us, which better agrees with 
the Koran of Mahomet, than the gospel of Christ : but 
that there is a resuri^ection of the just and unjust 
to rewards and punishment, we have ever believed.'* 
Bodies we shall have, h?it not the same^sK^s the apostle, 
and so believes the Quaker." 

THE ATONEMENT. 

J. J, Gurney (Essay on Love to God, p. 40) : Be- 
hold the glorious partner of the Father's throne, freely 
opening his bosom to the vials of His tv?'ath^ groaning 
and bleeding on the cross," &c. 

(p. 45.) " Let us call to mind, that in that hour of 
unutterable desertion, the righteous vengeance of God, 
against a guilty woild, was poured forth upon the inno- 
cent substitute." 

[How does this agree with the text, God so 
loved the world, tliat he gave His only begotten 
Son,"&c. ?— Ed.] 



APPENDIX. 



309 



ON THE FATHER. SON, AND HOLY SPlPvlT. 

J. J, Gurney (Essays, pp. 108, 109.) : The very 
pointed allusions made by our Saviour to the person- 
ality of the Holy Spirit are in exact accordance with 
the mode of expression which was often adopted, in 
relation to the same subject, by his inspired disciples. 
From various passages in the Book of Acts, and the 
Epistles, we can scarcely do otherwise than deduce 
the inference, that these sen^ants of the Lord regarded 
the Holy Spirit as one possessing powers, and 

requiring ^'personal allegiance." 

(Ibid. p. 110.) Such is the scriptural evidence of 
which we are in possession, that the Father is God, 
that the Son is God, that the Holy Spirit is God. Hav- 
ing considered this evidence, we may now proceed to 
take a view of some additional passages in the New 
Testament, in which the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost, whose deity is thus distinctively and separately 
indicated, are presented to our attention as the united 
sources of the Christian's help and consolation, the 
united objects of the Christian's belief and obedience. 
This description is indeed applicable to the passages 
already cited from the Gospel of John, in relation to 
the personality of the Holy Ghost," &c. 

(Essays, pp. 112, 113.) In order to obtain a just 
and comprehensive \dew of the whole subject, (as far 
as it is revealed to us) it is necessary also to advert to 
the order of that relation in which they are ever repre- 
sented as standing one towards another. The Father 
is the first ; the Son is the second ; the Holy Spirit is 
the third. The Son is subordinate to the Father, be- 
cause he is of the Father — the only begotten Son of 
God. The Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father 
and the Son, because he is the Father's and the Son's; 
see Matt. iii. 16, and Rom. viii. 9, The Father sends 
the Son. The Father and the Son send the Holy 
Spirit, John xv. 26." 

(Ibid. p. 113.) The Holy Spirit is the operative 
power, through whom the Father and the Son cany on 
the work of mercy, and exercise their dominion of the 



310 



APPENDIX. 



souls of men. It is He who enlightens, converts, 
renews, consoles, and purifies the heirs of salvation. 
The Father is, in the deepest and most comprehensive 
sense of the expressions, the Creator — the Son, the 
Redeemer — the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. The Fa- 
ther originates, the Son mediates, the Holy Sprit con- 
summates." 

(Essays, p. 393.) : On a careful perusal of the 
whole of that- Sacred Volume, he [an honest inquirer 
after truth] is led to take a view, first, of the natural 
and moral attributes of the Supreme Being ; secondly, 
of the personality and unity, in Him, of the Father, 
the Son, and the Spirit," &c. 

(Portable Evidences, p. 74. Boston edit. 1833.) 
" When our Saviour was about to quit this lower world, 
he commanded his disciples to go and teach all nations, 
baptizing them into the name of the * Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;' from which expres- 
sions we learn that these servants of God were to bap- 
tize their converts into that faith, of which the Father, 
the Son, and the Spirit, are the inseparable objects. 
Now since it cannot for a moment be imagined that a 
mere attribute or influence could be presented to us, 
as a joint object of our faith with the Father and the 
Son, this passage must he regarded as containing a clear 
evidence of the personality of the Spirit^ 

Compare the foregoing with 

George Fox : And it is the Spirit that beareth wit- 
ness, because the Spirit is truth ; for there are three 
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and 
the Holy Ghost, and these three are One ; and there 
are three which bear record in earth, &c. 1 John v. 
6, 7. And now let none be offended, because we do 
not call them by those unscriptural names of Trinity^ 
and Three Persons^ which are not Scripture words." — 
See Evans' Exposition, pp. 2, 3. 

Barclay (ibid. p. 5.) : Again, according to his 
[Brown's] custom, though I condemn the Socinians, he 
will be insinuating that I agree with him : to whose 



APPENDIX. 



311 



notions of the Spirit, albeit I assent not, yet I desire to 
knuw of him, in what Scripture he finds these words 
that the Spirit is a distinct person of the Trinity." 

IVilliam Venn (ibid. p. 7.) : "But they are very ten- 
der of quitting scripture terms and phrases for school- 
men's, such as distinct and separate persons and sub- 
sistences, &c. are ; from w4ience people are apt to en- 
tertain gross ideas of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost." 

J. Fenington (ibid. p. 10.) : That there are ' three 
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and 
the Holy Spirit ;' that these three are distinct, as three 
several beings or Persons', this they read not; but in 
the same place, they read ' they are one.' " 

Francis Howgill (ibid. p. 12.) : First, concerning 
the Trinity, thou sayest, they confess the Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, and yet they deny the Trinity, and 
those to be three distinct persons ; for confutation of 
this, thou bringest Heb. i. 3 — He is the express image 
of his Father's person." 

Thy Trinity is an old Popish term, and w^e love to 
keep to sound ivords ; but by Trinity, I suppose thou 
meanest three, and thy own words shall confute thee. 
Thou confessest Ave say, there is Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, and yet but one God, or one eternal 
being or substance, in which they all subsist ; but thy 
word distinct is thy owm, and not the Spirit's ; yet to 
distinguish betwdxt Father, Son, and Spirit, w^e deny 
not : and as for Heb. i. 3, it is in another translation 
rendered, the express image of his substance ; for 
Ferson is too gross a word to express an Eternal and 
Divine Being in ; and if thou dost hold three distinct 
substances, thou errest in thy judgment, for that were 
to make three Gods." 

William Chandler, Mexander Fyott, Jos, Hodges, and 
otJiers (ibid. p. 17.) : We believe that great mystery, 
that they are three that bear record in heaven, the Fa- 



312 



APPENDIX. 



tlier, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that these three are one 
beino- and substance " 

o 

R. Claridge (ibid. 2. 21.) : ''Therefore in this, and 
all other articles of faith and doctrines of religion, in 
common to be believed, in order to eternal salvation, 
let not the opinions, explications, or conceptions of men 
which are often dubious, various, or erroneous, be 
esteemed a rule or standard, but let every one rely on 
the divine testimony of the Holy Scriptures, which 
declare that G-od is one, and that there is none other 
besides Him ; and that the One God is Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit ; or, as it is expressed, 1 John v. 7— 
'The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.' 

And as we distinguish between a Scripture Trinity, 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which we unfeignedly 
believe ; and that humanly devised Trinity of three dis- 
tinct, and separate persons, which ive receive not, because 
the Holy Scriptures make no mention of it." 

Thus spoke our ancient Friends ; and that the So- 
ciety still continues to hold this doctrine may be infer- 
red from the following extract, taken from Foster's Re- 
ports. Volume I. p. 292 : 

Cross- Examination of Thomas Evans. 

Question. " If you hold that there is no contrariety 
of will in them, do you hold that they are, in any man- 
ner, distinct 

Answer. " We have always denied, that the Deity 
consisted of distinct and separate persons : and while 
we have believed that there were three, have as uni- 
formly maintained that those three are One." 

Counsel. " The question is not fully answered." 

Witness. " If the Counsel will explain his meaning 
of the term distinct, as used in the question, T will en- 
deavor to answer it further." 

Counsel. •' The question is. Do you hold that they 
are in any manner distinct .?" 

Witness. " I have already stated that the Society of 
Friends do not believe that there are distinct and sepa- 



APPENDIX. 



313 



rate persons in the Godhead; and have answered him in 
Scripture terms as regards what the Society do be- 
lieve," &;c. 

MORAL SENSE, ETC. 

J". J. Gurney (Essays, p. 365.) It wdll, I presume, 
be without difficulty allowed, that these observations 
are in a general, yet very important sense, applicable 
to all men, whether they are partakers in the benefit of 
an outward revelation, or are left to that which is 
usually described as the light of nature. If we admit 
that mankind, without an outward revelation, are 
nevertheless sinners, we must also admit that mankind, 
without such a revelation, are nevertheless in posses- 
sion of the law of God ; for we are expressly told by 
one apostle, that - where no law is, there is no trans- 
gression;' (Rom. iv. 15.) and by another, that sin is the 
transgression of the law; (1 John iii. 4.) declarations 
which obviously correspond with the dictates of $ound 
reason. 

The law to which I now allude, and which is uni- 
versally bestowed upon men, is ih^t ynoral sense of right 
and ivrong, by which the natural conscience is directed 
and illuminated, and which, unless perverted by pre- 
judice, or seared by the fatal operation of vice, it never 
fails to bear witness,"* 

J. J. Gurney (Strictures on " Truth Vindicated," p. 
25.) : " To denominate our Lord Jesus Christ a Rule, 
as does this author in the last mentioned extract, in- 
volves the danger of a very fatal heresy ; it obviously 
tends to divest him of his personality, and to convert 
him into a principle. 

'*In the mean time, the author of the Truth Vindi- 
cated, does not hesitate to insinuate that without any 
instruction whatsoever in Christianity, every creature 



* " For my own part, I beg it may be understood, that ' by the 
light of nature,' I mean, simply, the light which God has communi- 
cated to the souls of men independently of on outwardly revealed 
religion."— Note, at p. 365 and 366. 

14 



314 



APPENDIX. 



under heaven may have the saving knowledge of the 
' gospel of life and salvation through Jesus Christ.' " 

(Essays, p. 361.) Prone to iniquity, and transgres- 
sors from the woinb, w^e are alienated from God, who is 
the source of all happiness ; and, in the world to come, 
eternal separation from him, and, therefore, eternal 
misery is the consequence of our evil doings." 

(Portable Evidences, p. 165.) ^'In himself indeed, as 
a transgressor from his hirth, he is vile and polluted, but 
by the blood of Jesus sprinked on his heart, his con- 
science is purged from every dead work ; and having 
obtained an interest in the Saviour of men, he wears a 
robe of righteousness in which there is no spot." 

Rohert Barclay (Apol. Prop. V. & VI. p. 177.) : »*And 
certainly hence it is, even because this light seed and 
grace that appears in the heart of man is so little re- 
garded, and so much overlooked, that so few know 
Christ brought forth in them." 

(p. 178.) ''Some will have it to be reason; some, a 
natural conscience ; some, certain reliques of God's image 
that remained in Adam, So that Christ, as He met 
with opposition from all kinds of professors in his out- 
ward appearance, doth now also in the inward.'' 

(ibid. p. 182.) It [the saving grace] testifies that it 
is no natural principle or light, but saith plainly, it 
brings salvation.*' 

(ibid. Prop. XI. p. 382.) ^' For we must cease to do 
evil, ere we learn to do well ; and this meddling in 
things spiritual hy man's own natural understanding, is 
one of the greatest and viost dangerous evils that man is 
incident to ; being that which occasioned our first pa- 
rents' fall, to wit, a forwardness to desire to know 
things, and a meddling with them, both without and 
contrary to the Lord's command." 

(ibid. Prop. IV. p. 95.) Nevertheless, this seed is 
not imputed to infants^ until by transgression they 
actually join themselves therewith ; for they are by na- 
ture the children of wrath, who walk according to the 
power of the prince of the air, the spirit that now 
worketh in the children of disobedience, having their 



APPENDIX. 



315 



conversation in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the de- 
sires of the flesh and the mind."' 

(ibid. p. 104.) '-Than which testimonies there is 
nothing more positive ; since to infants there is no law, 
seeing as such they are utterly incapable of it ; the law 
cannot reach any but such as have in some measure 
less or more the exercise of their understanding, which 
infants have not." 

Phipps (Original and Present State of Man, p. 32.) : 
All the personal instructions and w^ritings of the pro- 
phets, apostles, and their cotemporaries, taken in their 
full extent, have never been any thing near so univei- 
sal amongst mankind as this grace and power of God| 
for it always hath been, and is present to every indi- 
vidual in all nations and throughout all generations.' ' 

THE AXOINTIXG— CHRIST IX MAX. 

J. J". Gurneij (Brief Remaiks, p. 8.) : For the same 
reason we cannot but object to the doctrin-e that 
Christ is the Anointing. Truly he is the Anointed of 
the Father, and the Anointer of his own pefjple ; but 
who on that account would think of identifying him 
wath the Anointing] that is^ with the enlightening^ 
-qualifying influence of the Holy Spirit 1 

" This peculiar notion is also occasionally applied 
amongst us, to a highly important passage in the Epis- 
tle of Paul to the Colossians, Vv'here he speaks of the 
^ mystery which hath been hid from ages and genera- 
tions, but now is made manifest unto the s^aints,' to 
whom he adds, God would make known what is the 
riches of the glory of this mystery among th-e Gentiles, 
%vhich is • Christ in you the hope of glory,' Col. i. 26. 
The words ' Christ in you,' are often recited by mis- 
take, as ^ Christ within ;' and these expressions are 
sometimes used amongst us as asynonyme for the light 
of the Spirit of Christ in the heart — a view which some 
have imagined to be supported by the apostle's treating 
the whole subject as a 'mystery.' Hence it necessa- 
rily follows, that the light of the Spirit of Clii'ist in tha 



316 



APPENDIX. 



heart, is the same as Christ himself, and is represented 
as the liope of glory. Tlie plain fact, however, appears 
to be, that the mystery of which the apostle is speaking, 
is that of the incarnation of the Son of God, a sub- 
ject which had indeed been typically shadowed forth to 
the Jews, but had been totally concealed from the 
Gentiles ; kept secret since the world began, but 
was now made known to the saints, (1 Tim. iii. 16.) 
and without controversy great is the mystery of godli- 
ness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the 
Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, be- 
lieved on in the world, received up into glory. No 
sooner did the Gentiles, by a living faith, accept the 
Saviour, who was thus preached unto them ; no sooner 
did they receive him into their hearts, that he might 
rule there by his Spirit, than Christ was in them the 
hope of glory, Eph. iii. 17, ' that Christ may dwell in 
your hearts by faith and 2 Cor. xiii^ 5, * Know ye not 
your ownselveSjhow that Jesus Christ is in you, except 
ye be reprobates V So also John vi. 56, ' He that 
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me 
and I in him;' John xvii. 26, ' That the love w^iere- 
with thou hast loved me, may be in them and I in 
them.' 

The true view of this subject, and in particular of 
the passage now cited from Colossians, is briefly but 
happily stated in the General Epistle from our last 
Yearly Meeting : * As the Holy Spirit influences our 
hearts, and enlightens our understandings, we are 
brought to a lively apprehension of the character and 
oflices of the Messiah, and Christ received by faith into 
the soul, and, ruHng there by his Spirit, becomes our 
sure and only hope of glory.' Here then is a full testi- 
mony to vital, practical, inward religion, but no mysti- 
cism. These mistakes, especially John i, 9, and Col. 
i. 26—28, have often been made by persons who cor- 
dially accept the Lord Jesus Christ in all his gracious 
oflices, both as God and man. 

*' Thus the errors themselves have naturally enough 
been suffered to pass with but little notice. But with 
some who have seceded from us in America, they have 
evidently been the means of aiding that tremendous pro- 



APPENDIX. 



317 



cess in heresy, by which the Eternal Word, or Son of 
God, is gradually converted into a mere influence, and 
finally becomes nothing at all but a seed sown in the 
hearts of all men,'' 

Contrast the above with 

Barclay (Apology, p. 52.) : The apostle proposeth 
this anointing in them, as a more certain touch-stone 
for them to discern and try seducers by, even than his 
own writings." 

(pp. 138,139.) But we under sta7id a spiritual, hea- 
venly^ and invisible principle, in which God, as Father^ 
Son, and Spirit divells ; a measure of which divine and 
glorious life is in all men as a seed, which of its own na- 
ture draws, invites, and inclines to God ; and this, some 
call vehiculum Dei, or the spiritual body of Christ, the 
Jlesh and hlood of Christ, which came down from heaven, 
of which all the saints do feed, and are thereby nour- 
ished unto eternal life. 

*^ And as this seed is received in the heart, and suf- 
fered to bring forth its natural and proper effect, Christ 
comes to be formed and raised, of which the Scripture 
makes so much mention, calling it the new man, Christ 
within, the hope of glory. This is that Christ within, 
which we are heard so much to speak and declare of, 
eveiy where preaching him up, and exhorting people to 
believe in the light, and obey it, that they may come to 
know Christ in them, to deliver them from all sin. 

*'Butby this, as we do not at all intend to equal our- 
selves to that holy man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was 
born of the Virgin Mary^ in whom all the fullness of 
the Godhead dwelt bodily, so neither do we destroy the 
reality of his present existence, as some have falsely ca- 
lumniated us. For though we affirm that Christ dwells 
in us, yet not immediately, but mediately, as he is in 
that seed, which is in us ; whereas he, to wit, the Eter- 
nal Word, which was with God, and was God, dwelt 
immediately in that holy man. 

We understand not this seed, light, or grace, to he an 
accident, as most men ignwantly do, hut a real spiritual 
substance, which the soul of man is capable to feel and 



318 



APPENDIX. 



apprehend, from which that real, spiritual, inward birth 
in believers arises, called the new creature, the neio man 
in the heart. This seems strange to carnal-minded men^ 
because they are not acquainted with it: but we know 
it, and are sensible of it, by a true and certain expe- 
rience. 

(pp. 142, 143, 144.) ''We have said before, howthat 
a divine, spiritual, and supernatural light is in all men ; 
how that that divine, supernatural light or seed, is vehicu- 
lum Dei ; how that God and Christ dwelleth in it, and 
is nevf r separated' from it; also how that as it is received 
and closed within the heart, Christ comes to be formed 
and brought forth ; but we are far from ever having 
said, that Christ is thus formed in all men, or in the 
wicked ; for that is a great attainment, which the apos- 
tle travailed that it might be brought forth in the Gala- 
tians. 

" But in regard Christ is in all men as in a seed, yea, 
and that he never is nor can be separate from that holyy 
pure seed and light which is in all men ; therefore may 
it be said, in a larger sense, that he is in all, &c. 

*' And forasmuch as Christ is called that light that 
enlightens evei'y man, the light of the world, therefore the 
light is taken for Christ, who truly is the fountain of 
light, and hath his habitation in it forever. 

" Thus the light of Christ is sometimes called 
Christ, i, e. that in which Christ is, and from which he 
is never separated." 

THE SEED. 

J. J. Gurneij (Brief Remarks, p. 10.): " That this 
parable (of the mustard seed) was intended to set forth 
the small beginnings of Christianity in the woild, and 
its subsequent extension and victory, can scarcely be 
doubted by any sober commentator ; and we may 
freely allow that it also bears an allusion to the growth 
in grace of the individual believer in Jesus ; — but that 
the mustard seed is here equivalent to Christ himself 
in his inward appearance to the soul, is surely a notion, 
without the smallest foundation either in reason or 
Scripture. The seed which the sower went forth to 



APPENDIX. 



319 



SOW, in another parable, as explained by our Lord as 
signifying the word of divine truth as it is loreacJied and 
heard. It cannot therefore signify Christ, who in his 
character of a prophet, or preacher, is represented as 
the sower ; and equally obvious is it, that it cannot be 
identical (as some persons appear to imagine) with the 
light of the Spirit of Christ in the hearts of all men. 

The influence of the Holy Spirit, through which . 
the believer is born again, may probably be represented 
by the term * seed.' In 1 Peter i. 2, 3, * Being born 
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incoiTuptible, by 
the word of God which liveth and abideth forever 
and this g7'ace abiding in the lieart of the believer, ap- 
pears to be spoken of under the same term in 1 John 
iii. 9 : * Whomsoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, 
because he is born of God.' 

Contrast with 

George Fox (Sewell's History, Vol. II, p. 490. Phil- 
adelphia edit.) : All is well, the seed of God reigns 
over all, and over death itself." And though," con- 
tinued he, I am weak in body, yet the power of God 
is over all, and the Lord reigns over all disorderly 
spirits." He used often, even in his preaching, when 
he spoke of Christ, to call Him the Seed; therefore, 
those that were with him very well knew what he 
meant when he spoke of the * Seed.' 

"Again, about four or five hours before his death, 
being asked how he did, he answered, *'Do not heed, 
the power of the Lord is above all sickness and death ; 
the Seed reigns, blessed be the Lord !' " 

OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. 

J. J". Gurney (Brief Remarks, p. 13.) : After com- 
menting at large on John vi. he says — "Hence it fol- 
lows, that the bread which Christ gives us to eat is his 
flesh, which he offered upon the cross for the sins of the 
whole world. As eating the bread of life is identical 
with believing in Christ, the incarnate Son of God, so 



320 



APPENDIX. 



eating his flesh is identical with such a belief in him as 
is especially directed to his atoning sacrifice. 

" Our Lord's meaning becomes yet more indisputa- 
ble, when he pursues his use of this expressive figure, 
and adds to the eating of his flesh, the di inking of his 
blood : * Verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh 
©f the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life 
in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my 
blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him,' ver. 53 — 56, 
That the flesh and blood of Christ are here spoken of 
in relation to his incarnation and atoning sacrifice, is 
made abundantly clear by the comparison of all the 
other passages in the New Testament, and especially 
in the witings of this apostle, in which mention is made 
of that flesh or of that blood. 

These passages are numerous ; and on a careful ex- 
amination of them, it will be found that the fiesh 
always means his human body — that body which was 
born, died, and rose again — and that his blood always 
means his very blood, which was his natural life, and 
which was naturally shed on the cross for the remis- 
sion of sin.'* 

Contrast with 

Barclay (Apology, p. 446:) : *^ The body then of 
Christ, which believers partake of, is spiritual, and not 
carnal ; and his blood, which they drink of, is pure and 
heavenly, and not human or elementary, as Augustine also 
affirms of the body of Christ, which is eaten, in his 
Tractat. Psalm 98. Except a man eat my Jiesh, hehath 
not in him life eternal : and he saith, The words which I 
S2Kak unto you are Spirit and life ; understand spiritually 
what I have spoken. 

Ye shall not eat of this body which ye see, and drink 
this blood which they shall spill, which crucify me — I 
am the living bread, who have descended from heaven. 
He calls himself the bread, who descended from hea- 
ven, exhorting that we might believe in him, &:c. 

If it be asked then. What that body, what that flesh 
and blood is 1 

I answer; It is that heavenly seed, that divine, spirit- 



APPENDIX.. 



321 



ualy celestial substance, of which we spake before in 
the Jifth and sixth propositions. This is that spiritual 
tody of Christy whereby and through which he commu- 
nicateth life to men, and sdlxation to as many as believe 
in him, and receive him ; and whereby also man comes 
to have fellowship and communion with God.'' 

GURNEY-ISMS3 ETC. 

J". /. Gurney (Portable Evidences, pp. 109, 110.) : 
Furnished as we are by the Author of our being with 
a moral principle, it is impossible for us to conceive that 
God will reward and punish mankind in a future world, 
by any other than the moral rule. We should be utter- 
ly at a loss to account for the contrary, which would be 
directly opposed to that sense of right and wrong, 
which He has so graciously intericoven with our very 
nature^ 

(Ibid. p. 123.) "All men have sinned against the law 
of God, as it is written on their hearts ; and those on 
whom the Scriptures are bestowed, have sinned against 
the same law as it is more largely unfolded in the 
sacred volume.'' 

(Ibid. pp. 121, 122.) : " Now where but in the Sacred 
writings, shall we look for a full account of the holi- 
ness and comprehensiveness of the law of God 1 
Where, but in them, shall we learn the lesson of its 
variety and completeness ; of its spiritual and search- 
ing nature ; of its divine control, not only over our 
words and actions, but over our thoughts, motives, and 
dispositions ?' 

(Note at bottom of page 20, of Strictures on " Truth 
Vindicated.") " Had R. Barclay lived to witness the 
result of the labors of many eminent biblical critics, 
during the last 150 years, he would have entertained a 
higher view than he appears to have done, of the sub- 
stantial correctness of the text of the Old and New 
Testaments.'' 

(Portable Evidence, p. 109.) " Now I conceive that 
in the agreement between the law written on the heart, 
and the law written in the book, and in the extension of 
the latter beyond the natural limits of the former, we 

14* 



322 



APPENDIX. 



have two cogent and distinct evidences, that the Scrip- 
tures are the book of God." 

(Misinterpretations of Scripture as published in the 
Inquirer, Vol. I. No. 7, p. 195.) The idea was at one 
time rather prevalent among the members of our So- 
ciety, that when the Apostle used the term, * a more 
sure word of prophecy,' he was alluding not to any 
word written, but to that Divine illuminating influence 
by which the prophets were inspired, and which guides 
the Christian believer * into all truth.' Such a view of 
the passage is, indeed, hut seldom insisted upon at the 
present day ; but as it is sometimes advanced, I think 
it right to acknowledge my own sentiment, that it is at 
variance with the simplicity which we ought always to 
maintain in the perusal and interpretation of the Sacred 
writings. That the ' very sure word of prophecy' was 
that which had been uttered and written, is evident 
from the immediate context, in which the Apostle dis- 
tinguishes the word from the day star in the heart, and 
at the same time identifies it (as I conceive) with pro- 
phecy of the Scripture." 

(Ibid. p. 198.) The misinterpretation which I wish 
to notice is, that of several writers who appear to sup- 
pose that because Christ is called the light, (i. e. the 
enlightener,) he is therefore to be identified with the 
influence which he bestows ; in short, that the light of 
the Spirit of God in the heart of man is itself actually 
Christ. The obvious tendency of this mistake is, to 
deprive the Saviour of his personal attributes, and to 
reduce Him to the rank of a principle." 

(Ibid. p. 194.) It is unquestionably our duty to ex- 
ercise diligence and care, in order to obtain a right 
understanding of the sacred volume ; for this, like 
every other book, must he interpreted in accordance ivith 
the known princij)les of language, and not without refer- 
ence to innumerahle facts and circumstances which throw 
light on its meaning, 

Contrast these sentiments with 

Penington (Works, Part I. p. 8.) : "But poor man 
having lost the life, what should he do ? he can do no 



APPENDIX. 



323 



Other, but cry up the letter, and make as good shift 
with it as he can, though his soul the meanwhile is 
starv^ed, and Hes in famine and death for want of the 
bread of life, and a wrong thing is fed." 

Geo. Fox (Journal, Vol. 1. p. 32.) : " He [the Priest] 
took for his text these words of Peter, * We have also 
a more sure word of prophecy, where unto ye do well 
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark 
place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your 
hearts.' He told the people this was the Scriptures, by 
which they were to try all doctrines, religions, and 
opinions. Now the Lord's power was so mighty upon 
me, and so strong in me, that I could not hold ; but 
was made to cry out, ' Oh ! no ; it is not the Scriptures 5' 
and told them it was the Holy Spirit, by which the holy 
men of Grod gave forth the Scriptures, whereby opin- 
ions, religions, and judgments were to be tried ; for at 
led into all ti'uth, and so gave the knowledge of all 
truth. The Jews had the Scriptures, yet resisted the 
Holy Ghost, and rejected Christ, the bright morning 
star. They persecuted him and his Apostles, and took 
upon them to try their doctrines by the Scriptures, but 
erred in judgment, and did not try them right ; because 
they tried without the Holy Ghost." 

Barclay (Apology, p. 147.) : So we confess also, 
that conscience is an excellent thing, where it is rightly 
informed and enUghtened : wherefore some of us have 
fitly compared it to the lantern, and the light of Christ 
to a candle ; a lantern is useful, when a clear candle 
burns and shines in it ; but otherwise is of no use. To 
the light of Christ then in the conscience, and not to 
man's natural conscience, it is that we continually com- 
mend men ; that, not this is it that we preach up, and 
direct people to, as a most certain guide into life eter- 
nal. Lastly, this light, seed, &c., appears to be no 
power or natural faculty of man's mind ; because a man 
that is in his health can, when he pleases, stir up, move, 
and exercise the faculties of his soul ; he is absolute 
master of them ; and except there be some natural 
cause or impediment in the way, he can use them at 



324 



APPENDIX. 



his pleasure ; but this light and seed of God in man, he 
cannot move and stir up when he pleaseth ; but it 
moves, blows, and strives with man, as the Lord seeth 
meet." 

Geo. Fox (Journal, Vol. I. p. 111.) : ** I was sent to 
turn people from darkness to the light, that they might 
receive Christ Jesus ; for to as many as should receive 
him in his light, I saw he would give power to become 
the sons of God ; which I had obtained by receiving 
Christ. I w^as to direct people to the Spirit, that gave 
forth the Scriptures, by which they might be led up to 
all truth, and up to Christ and God, as those had been 
who gave them forth. I was to turn them to the grace 
of God, and to the truth in the heart, which came by 
Jesus ; that by this grace they might be taught, which 
would bring them salvation, that their hearts might be 
established by it, their words might be seasoned, and all 
might come to know their salvation nigh. I saw that 
Christ died for all men, was a propitiation for all, and 
enlightened all men and women with his divine and 
saving light; and that none could be true believers, but 
those that believed therein. I saw that the grace of 
God, which brings salvation, had appeared to all men, 
and that the manifestation of the Spirit of God was 
given to every man, to profit withal. These things I 
did not see by the help of man, nor by the letter ; though 
they are written in the letter ; but I saw them in the 
light of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by his immediate 
spirit and power, as did the holy men of God by whom 
the Holy Scri'ptures were written^ 

(Ibid. p. 212.) " Another time, this priest came to a 
meeting, and fell to jangling. First, he said, * The 
Scriptures were the word of God/ I told him, they 
were the words of God, but not Christ, the word ; and 
bid him prove by Scripture what he said." 

J, J. Gurney (Brief Remarks, p. 15.) : And as it is 
appointed unto men once to die ; but after this the 
judgment : so Christ was once offered to bear the sins 
of many ; and unto them who look for him shall he 
appear the second time without sin unto salvation. 



APPENDIX. 



325 



Heb. ix : 27, 28. It is generally allowed and I think it 
is very obvious tbat the second appearing of Christ, 
here mentioned is nothing more nor less than his future 
coming in glory, to judge the quick and dead." 

D scipline of New EiUgland^ (Yearly Meeting, p. 74.) : 
*^ And to his spiritual appearance in the heart, for 'unto 
them that look for Him shall He appear the second 
time, without sin, unto salvation." 

J. J. Gurney. ^' Were I required to define Quaker- 
ism, I would not describe it as the system so elaborately 
WTOught out by a Barclay, or as the doctrine and max- 
ims of a Penn. or as the deep and refined views of a 
Penington ; for all these authors have their defects as 
well as their excellencies ; I should call it the religion 
of the New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, w ithout dimunition; without addition, and with- 
out compromise." 

See concluding paragraph of his misinterpretation 
of Scripture. 

J. Penington says, Now mark, see if this be not a 
clear thing, He that giveth any other meaning of any 
Scripture, than what is the true, proper meaning there- 
of, he both addeth and diminisheth ; he takes away the 
true sense, he addeth a sense that is not true. The 
Spirit of the Lord is the true expositor of Scripture, 
he never addeth nor diminisheth : but man (being 
without the Spirit) doth but guess, doth but imagine, 
doth but study or invent a meaning, and so he is ever 
adding^ or diminishing:." 



Note. — The Publisher of this Narrative, is indebted 
to a much esteemed Friend for most of the foregoing 
extracts. 



LETTERS, &c. 



In the following letters a very few verbal altera- 
tions and transpositions have been made, not only 
for a grammatical improvement, but to make a few 
sentences more explicit to the understanding of the 
reader. Yet these are substantially literal copies of 
the original letters, and on a comparison will be 
found, entirely, to coincide with the sense of the 
original : 

LETTER L 

To . 

My Dear Friends : — Notwithstanding the lively 
continuation of that interest which I have truly for 
a long time felt for you and your prosperity in 
things of an eternal moment ; and although I have 
been aware of some discrepancy of views for most 
of the year past between you and myself, and a 
great grief has it been to me, because considerations 
of great importance are involved therein : yet I have 
never until very recently, felt even a liberty to ad- 
dress you on the subject. But now the way for 
such service seems to open pretty clearly ; so much 
so that you have of late been almost continually 
present to the view of my mind, with interesting 
and living desires for your as for my own preserva- 



328 



LETTERS, ETC. 



tion in the truth. And however little is the qualifi- 
cation of which I am possessed for such an attennpt, 
yet as I am now convinced that a conformity to 
this attraction to duty, if attended to in simplicity 
and meekness, will bring peace, I no longer with- 
hold. 

I need not tell you how" clearly the Apostle Paul 
made a unity of faith and doctrine the test of fellow- 
ship, nor of how beautifully he describes the agree- 
ment and fitness of the members of the body one 
with another so that it might be one perfect har- 
monious whole. Nor how the Gospel, or standard 
of Truth's doctrines are to be the behever's only 
rallying point, to the exclusion of all other doctrines, 
although such other may be promulgated by the 
greatest of men, or even by an angel from heaven ; 
as in Galatians 1 — 8, "But though we^ or an angel 
from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than 
that which we have [already] preached unto you, 
let him be accursed." 

And so decided and earnest in this avowal, was 
the Apostle, that he confirms it by a reiteration of 
the same in the very next verse ; and then adds, 
" for do I now persuade men, or God ? or do I seek 
to please men ? for if I yet pleased men, I should not 
be the servant of Christ." 

Can any work or device of men, however imita- 
tive or skillful in the display of goodness and wis- 
dom, ever make amends for a defection in faith and 
doctrine, orreconcile unto Christ? See Mat. 7 — 22. 
" Many will say to me in that day, Lord ! Lord ! 
have we not prophccied in thy name ? and in thy 
name have cast out devils ; and in thy name done 
many wonderful works Nor does he go about 
to deny their having done those works : no, but he 
says, " then will I profess unto them, I never knew 
you !" 

The one thing needful was wanting, the know- 
ledge of Christ ; a knowledge which gathers and 



LETTERS, ETC. 



329 



unites his whole household into one, in heart and 
mind, doing and believing as one man doeth and be- 
lieveth. 

But to come more directly to -the subject of this 
letter, I will confess unto you, that I stih feel much 
uneasiness in relation to many of the doctrinal 
views of J. J. Gurney, the Friend who is here from 
England in the capacity of a mmister ; and of 
which uneasiness I informed him at the time of our 
last Yearly Meeting. And so far from attempting 
an explanation, for mine and others' satisfaction, he 
entered promptly into a summary defence and jus- 
tification of the same ; and attempted sheltering 
huTiself under his certificate from London, and plead 
that we have no right to call in question any thing 
which he had written previous to that time, a point 
in which we found ourselves [at issue ; unless, in- 
deed, he had condemned his defective writings 
which are among us^ here as well as there, before 
the certificate was granted ; for his wrongs to the 
Society were here as well as there, and cannot be 
amended without a condemnation made as public as 
the writings themselves. 

I could not dispute his idea, that Friends in Lon- 
don had sanctioned his doctrines by granting him a 
certificate of unity. But that other Yearly Meet- 
ings which are not subordinate but independent 
bodies, should be bound by such an inadvertent 
cover of defective doctrines by them, is an assump- 
tion altogether in my apprehension absurd. 

The great question w^ith us is, whether he has 
ever condemned and made satisfaction to Friends 
for those doctrines, agreeable to the usages of our 
Christian Discipline, or whether they yet remain to 
be his own. This question was fully decided by 
himself during the interview which I had v\nth him. 
He said that his '^writings contained no doctrines 
but such as were sound and conformable to Quaker- 
ism !" Hence we are bound by his own veracity to 
believe that every thing to be found in his books is 



330 



LETTERS, ETC, 



yet a true transcript of his own sentiments. But 
have we a right thus plainly to handle the character 
and doctrines of a travelling minister well recom- 
mended — a man so pleasing and interesting as well 
as religious ? No ! unless he has put himself in 
competition with the Society ; — with our principles 
and testimonies. 

If he have vohmteered, and made public his name 
and sentiments, they are ours, [public property,] 
and there is no delicacy or impropriety in thus in- 
forming one another, and of developing to one ano- 
ther, the character of them, and the danger which 
thereby awaits the Society and its distinguishing 
doctrines. 

If such right were taken from us, then the safety, 
if not the existence of this Society must soon be at 
an end ! 

No individual has a right to claim the sparing of 
his character, at the expense of the whole Society 
and its doctrines, or to the dishonor or displeasure 
of Him who dispensed these doctrines to this peo- 
ple. For indeed, my dear friends, I account it no 
small thing lor an individual to arraign the whole 
company of our early and deeply experienced 
Friends in matters of faith and doctrine, and thus to 
reprobate their principles. But you will probably 
be surprised at such allusions as these, unless you 
have read his works ; — if you have, attentively, I 
know your knowledge of our principles, and that 
your intelligence is such, that you will perceive 
there is no breach of charity in these remarks, be- 
ing equally concerned with myself, as I trust you 
are, that the pure Christian doctrines of our early 
Friends may be kept and remain inviolate and with- 
out abatement. 

We know that every one of those noted individu- 
als who have in our time attempted an innovation 
upon our principles, claimed for themselves, and 
their friends claimed for them, the apphcation and 



LETTERS, ETC. 



331 



protection of our excellent discipline, relative to love 
and unity, and detraction ; and no great honor to 
them either, to lay their unhallowed hands upon 
those Christian provisions, and to apply them to an 
unhallowed purpose, to lay a suspicion of their de- 
signs and to obviate detection. Some of them also 
when abroad with certificates, and friends expressed 
dissatisfaction with their doctrines, claimed the pro- 
tection of their credentials, and appealed to the au- 
thority of their friends at home ! 
I But whether you have been conversant with the 
writings alluded to or not, I will extract a few out 
of the many exceptionable passages, and present 
for your view and consideration; and if there 
should be any doubts in your minds relative to any 
one of them, you will please compare them with 
Fox, Barclay and Penn : for however he may deny 
the testimonies of these, I am assured that you will 
not. [Here followed the extracts. The reader is 
referred to those contained in the following letter, 
which are substantially the same. 

The copy of the preceding letter in my hands is 
without date, but is believed to have been written 
in the 4th month of 1839, and signed by 

JOHN WILBUR. 



LETTER II. 

HoPKiNTON, 10th of nth mo., 1838. 

My Dear Friend, : 

Within these few days a little inclination has 
sprung up in my mind, to suggest a few considera- 
tions to thee, relative to the important question 
which transpired during our Yearly Meeting ; and 



332 



LETTERS, ETC. 



as much time has elapsed for deUberation thereon, I 
feel that I can address thee with the more freedom. 
And if I understand the question it was this : — 
" JVhethe?^ a Certificate granted to a travelling 
minister, from a body of Friends to which we are not 
subordinate, is an entire foreclosure of a recogni- 
zance of doctrines fundamentally incorrect, and 
known to exist in the sentiments of the bearer of such 
credentials ? Or, in other w^ords, whether it be requi- 
site, that whatever one Yearly Meeting adopts, all 
others are bound to receive and approve ? A rule 
or principle, my dear friend, if this question is de- 
termined in the affirmative, which will amount to 
the assumption, that if one of those independent 
bodies should unhappily become apostate in princi- 
ple, (a calamity which has been known to befal the 
best of bodies,) then are all of those bodies una- 
voidably rendered obnoxious to the same apostacy.* 
Hence, if an alliance, or correspondence, one with 
another unavoidably subjects Yearly Meetings to 
such consequences, w^ere it not better that such alli- 
ance should not exist ? But inasmuch as I esteem 
the proposition incorrect, I w^ould not suspend an 
intercourse between Yearly Meetings ; but that 
each should know its own standing and abide on 
the sure foundation, by a constant recurrence to 
the pattern of first principles, independent of each 
others fidelity or misgivings ; — and then a mutual 
intercourse under the Divine superintendency, will 
tend to the strengthening and edifying of one ano- 
ther not to the perversion, but to the confirmation of 
sound principles as they are in Christ Jesus our Ho- 



* If such certificate protects the bearer, forecloses all enquiry, 
and adopts his doctrine at home, (as by himself claimed,) then his 
returning certificates, if such be granted from all the Yearly Meet- 
incfs, by the same rule must protect him from all impeachment, and 
establish his doctrines throughout the whole Society ! 



LETTERS, ETC 



333 



ly Head. And there is another ease besides that 
of apostacy from original Quakerism, possible to oc- 
cur, which might serve as an obstruction to the 
service of a minister from abroad with a good cer- 
tificate, namely — should he be found chargeable 
with mal-conduct which transpired previous to his 
liberation, but unknow^n to the body which liberated 
him, and afterwards coming to the knowledge of 
Friends where he goes. These supposed cases are 
adduced upon general principles, simply to show 
that incidents may occur, in which full credence 
might be necessarily withholden from a minister 
producing a full certificate. Furthermore, a third 
case may occur and be plainly tangible, independ- 
ent of the authority w^hich liberated a minister, 
namely, when he is found to be fundamentally de- 
fective in principle at any time during his visit 
abroad ; and in which case neither the credibihty 
of the meeting recommending, or its certificate, can 
be rightfully brought forward in defence of the 
person or his principles ; whether known or un- 
known to the liberating body, belongs not to the 
enquiry, but whether he actually hold such princi- 
ples. 

Nevertheless, such person ought to be aware that 
his claiming the sanction of his own Yearly Meet- 
ing, reflects no honor upon that body. The truth 
itself is to be the test and standard of such decision ; 
and his doctrine must be compared with the doc- 
trines of Christianity as found recorded in the Holy 
Scriptures, and with which those of our Society, 
from the first are believed to be in full accordance : 
and whosoever departs from that belief departs 
from Quakerism, however good he may suppose his 
claim to Christianity. And if the fact of his defection 
is clearly known and understood, whether through 
the medium of his own written and recorded decla- 
rations, or by his oral testimonies delivered in pub- 
lic or private, his liability, and the course to be 



334 



LETTERS, ETC. 



taken by his friends, and the conclusions to be 
drawn flre the same — undeniably the same. 

But the Society of Friends in this country has 
always placed a stronger guard upon the Press, 
than upon the Gallery ; because recorded and pub- 
lished defections are generally productive of the 
grealer evil, for the reason that such are the more 
tangible, and reduced to a more permanent form 
than those put forth orally. A conclusion evinced 
by the order of Society in prohibiting an author 
from printing his doctrinal views without an official 
approval first obtained ; — a restraint not laid upon 
oral testimony. 

And now, my beloved Friend, I will come more 
directly to the very important case in question; but 
before proceeding to identify and enumerate some 
of the impediments which are deemed to lie in the 
way of the conspicuous stranger now in our land, I 
will speak a word or two of the rights of every 
member of the compact, if not his duty to guard 
against all unrighteousness — to ask for an explana- 
tion of any avowals or doctrines w^hich he does not 
comprehend, or understand to be in accordance 
with Christianity, (by whomsoever, or in what 
manner soever advanced) and to expect reasonable 
satisfaction to be made ; and on a refusal thereof, to 
bear his testimony honestly against it, for the clear- 
ing of his own mind, and that he may not be a par- 
taker with such, of their deeds. 

And if I mistake not, it w^ill be made plainly to 
appear that the person alluded to, has volunteered 
in the profession of doctrines, obviously at variance 
with the acknowledged and established tenets of the 
Society ; and thereby placed himself at issue with 
every sound member of the body in matters of faith 
and practice ; and until he retract the same, has 
never a right to complain of a prompt defence of 
our principles, though it could only be done at the 
expense of his religious character ; and better so 



LETTERS, ETC. 



335 



than omitted at the expense of the whole body, and 
of the testimonies of truth, agreeably to the Scrip- 
ture, that it is better for one member to suffer, than 
that the whole body should suffer. 

If it were so that a member of our Society, un- 
der any circumstances whatever in which he might 
be placed, being unsound, cannot be approached, 
or impeached, or asked to explain, and to make 
satisfaction for things which give uneasiness, then 
the Society must be in great jeopardy ! If any man 
among us has an exclusive privilege of writing and 
preaching such doctrines as he listeth, and the least 
of the flock not allowed to be satisfied, then it would 
seem, that the safety of the Society, if not of its ex- 
istence, as a Quaker fraternity, is in a perilous con- 
dition. Are we not informed by the published 
account, that one of the notable witnesses on the 
trial with the Hicksites in New Jersey, was asked 
the question, whether any Friend was considered to 
have a right to call on a minister travelling with a 
certificate, for an explanation of his avowals, or to 
call them in question ? To which I think the answer 
was, that any memher, or even a child, was always 
considered to ham such a right. But Judge Ewing 
suggested the idea that the writings of Elias Hicks 
were better evidence against him than oral decla- 
ration. 

I will now adduce a few articles from his (Joseph 
John Gurney's) own doctrines and confessions of 
faith ; and if called for, the works, and pages, and 
discourses will be produced and pointed out. They 
are as followeth : 

1st. That there is no correct divinity but that 
which is borrowed from the Bible. 

2d. That the spirit is a person. 

3d. That he believes in the resurrection of the 
body. 

4th. That it is only by the Scriptures that we 
obtain a proper conception of the nature of sin. 



336 



LETTERS, ETC. 



5th. Justification by faith, and that faith inde- 
pendent of the Spirit, which regenerates the heart : 
and of obedience. 

6th. He behoves in delivering pubhc discourses 
[or lectures] on Christianity, distinct from preaching. 

7th. He believes in a form for prayer. 

And in his last book called " Brief Remarks on 
an impartial interpretation of Scripture he inter- 
prets the following highly important passages of 
Scripture in a manner contradictory and perversive 
of Robert Barclay's interpretation of the same pas- 
sages, briefly noticed as follows : 

1st, The Bible, the ^ more sure word of pro- 
phecy.' 

2d. He believes ' the Gospel of Christ [not] to be 
the Power of God unto salvation to every one 
which believeth,' but only an outward declaration, 
or record of that which is the Power of God. 

3d. ' That was the true light which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world.' From the tenor 
of his comments on this passage, his opinion ap- 
pears to be, that Christ himself is not the Light 
which lighteth the heart, or inner man, but out- 
wardly the ' enlightener.' He controverts the be- 
lief that He is himself the true Light which shines 
in man, and affirms that * the obvious tendency of 
such an opinion, would be to deprive the Saviour of 
his personal attributes, and to reduce him to the 
rank of a principle,' a consequence often attempted, 
substantially, to be pressed upon our first Friends 
by their enemies, and as often refuted. Such ob- 
jections to this our distinguished and evangehcal 
doctrine, seems an attempted limitation, and attack 
upon Christ's character without knowledge ; and 
upon this blessed and essential manifestation and 
office of our Lord Jesus Christ. And whilst he 
professes to be guarding his personal attributes, his 
reasoning goes to deprive him of an attribute divine, 
and us of its indispensable benefit, even that of the 



LETTERS, ETC. 



337 



immediate revelation of light and knowledge, where- 
by all his attributes, together with his Holy Will, 
are the better understood. The material sun, 
(made by the skill of attributes,) by pouring forth 
his animating beam upon the bosom of this world 
ever since its creation, has never yet deprived itself 
of its own image, or essential properties, or that 
portion of Kght and heat so essential to vegetation, 
sent forth from him the fountain of it ; nor reduced 
itself ' to the rank of a principle.' And shall we 
say less of Him who made it such ? 

4th. He thinks that the seed, the parable of the 
mustard-seed, and the seed of the sower, relate only 
to the outward increase of the church, or of Christ's 
outward descent, and thus disagrees with Barclay, 
namely — that the seed alludes to a measure of light, 
grace, spirit or seed of the kingdom, word of 
God, &c. 

5th. He argues that the Name of Father, Son and 
Spirit, do not allude to the Power. 

6th. He believes that the partaking of the Lord's 
Supper is not a ' Communion of the Holy Ghost,' 
nor yet ' a participation of the Divine nature 
through faith,' as set forth by Friends in England,* 
but a participation of his material Body and Blood 
by faith. 

7th. Is an attempt to divide Christ from his own 
Light, revelation, spirit and power, namely, that it 
is only Christ personally on which the Church is 
built. 

8th. Is a continued hostility to the spiritual ap- 
pearing and kingdom of Christ, with and in the 
hearts of his people, and says that ' His second ap- 
pearance without sin unto salvation, to them who 
look for Him,' as declared by the Apostle, ' is no- 



About half a centuiT ago. 

15 



338 



LETTERS, ETC. 



thing more nor less than his future coming in glory 
to judge the quick and dead.' 

These eight interpretations and their introductory 
and accompanying remarks constitute the whole 
tract, the object and purport whereof, cannot be 
easily misunderstood; admired and applauded by 
the Beaconites, and to all who receive and adopt 
these sentiments, they will have a direct tendency 
to lead them from the inner to the outer court of the 
Lord's house — from the spirit, life and power of 
that religion which is immediately revealed by Je- 
sus Christ, in the soul and mind of man, to a more 
outward and literal religion, consisting of head, 
knowledge and notions, conceived in the wisdom of 
man, and understood by a carnal construction of the 
sacred volume — which is here exhibited through a 
brilliant display of learning, to the outdoing of all 
the former translators of the Holy Scriptures ; and 
attaining to the great skill of exalting the Hebrew, 
Greek and Latin, over the head of Hmi who is not 
only Christ crucified, the wisdom of God and power 
of God, but is the light of the world, and whose Ufe 
is the Hght of men ; but to be looked for inwardly in 
the heart, and not (as he would seem [inclined] to 
have us think) outwardly and above it, by the un- 
derstanding only. 

The review of the above-named tract brings to 
mind some remarks of a late American writer, 
when in England, in relation to a class of men who 
as he says, " are endeavoring to revive many of the 
errors of Popery into the English Church, or to 
carry it back again to the state of things before the 
Reformation." He says, " I hardly need tell you 
that these views sprung up at Oxford, [the great 
seat of learning.} 

" I was told," he continues, " that the originators 
of these views had been very covertly and cautious- 
ly bringing them out for a long time, and no one 
suspected the point to which they were aiming, till 



LETTERS, ETC. 



339 



the whole thing stood revealed ; and thus many- 
had been entrapped unawares. The charms of 
poetry had been thrown around the doctrme, the at- 
tractions of learning, the plausibility of arguments, 
and the powers of gifted genius had been employed 
to give them currency. The abettors of them were 
men of distinguished scholarship — -of great urbanity 
and blameless lives. Their influence at Oxford had 
been astonishingly great," &c. 

Now, my dear friend, if such be a true picture 
of the means put in operation for the purpose of car- 
rying back again the Episcopal Society to the faith 
of Popery, how much appKcation or touching of the 
pencil will that picture require, to make it a fair de- 
lineation of the means now apparently in operation 
for the purpose of translating Quakerism back again 
to the Episcopal religion ? 

Our author, in his introduction to the tract afore- 
said, strongly implicates the Society of Friends and 
its writers, with mistakes and errors^ and says, " I 
am convinced that the sooner such errors are recti- 
fied, the better for the growth and prosperity of our 
little section of the Christian Church, small as they 
[these errors] may be regarded in their origin, con- 
sisting perhaps in an inaccurate view of a single 
word or sentence'' [of Scripture.] 

" These mistakes," he continues " are often found 
to spread their influence to a great extent, &c." 
By these remarks it is but rational to suppose that 
he was referring to those passages of Scripture 
which he subsequently comments upon in the same 
tract, and thereby plainly reprobates the faith and 
understanding of our standard writers upon the 
same passages. 

Again, he seems not afraid boldly to charge 
Friends' views of Scripture passages, with heresy, 
with " being the means of aiding that tremendous 
lapse of heresy in America." Than which perhaps 
a keener and more unjust reproach and sarcasm has 



340 



LETTERS, ETC. 



seldom been cast upon the faith of Friends by their 
bitterest enemies. 

Now in sohd consideration of the foregoing quo- 
tations, it would appear that untiltheir Author come 
candidly forward and condemn his anti-quaker 
views and charges of error and heresy \x^oii the So- 
ciety, that his oflering himself to us as a preacher 
of oui' principles, would seem as absurd and contra- 
dictory of order, as any two positions of practices 
can well be. 

A want of conformity to the faith adopted by a 
religious body, has always been found the very 
root of disorder, and has been palpably productive 
of it in a great variety of instances. Witness the 
commotions in Ohio and Xew York Yearly Meet- 
ings, and let me ask which party was chargeable 
with the disorder 1 — those who first propagated un- 
soimd principles, or those who withstood them ? 
And I will ask again, had all a right to withstand 
them? If the ministers and elders failed to with- 
stand those errors [as in many instances they did] 
had the common members and young people a right 
to withstand them ? 

The answer to these last questions, must undoubt- 
edly turn upon the point of another, namely : — 
Whether the principles propagated by Ehas Hicks 
were substantially at variance with the doctrines 
of the Society ? And so it must be determined 
after all that can be said in the present case ; — If J. 
J. Gumey's doctrines are substantially at variance 
with the doctrine of Friends, then every member 
of the body has a right, — nay, it is the duty of all, 
whether young or old, to make a stand against them 
for the body's sake. But if his written sentiments 
are coincident with those always held by Friends, 
why is it that he does not openly and candidly ex- 
plain them, and thereby put all our doubtings to 
rest ? His evasions and refusals to do so give in- 
creased uneasiness, and render his views and inten- 



LETTERS, ETC. 



341 



tions the more distrustful in the minds of many, and 
must continue to do so until he comply with so just 
a course and the good order which truth requires, — ■ 
" first be reconciled to thy brother and then come 
and offer thy gift.'' 

It is well known that Ehas Hicks and his abet- 
tors, called loudly for order, and denied every body 
the right of questioning the protective authority of 
his credentials when abroad ; pleading for unity, 
charity and harmony with great zeal, in order to 
suppress inquiry. The same order, love and unity 
was again called for with much earnestness by 
Ehsha Bates and the Beaconites, whilst the great 
breach of candor and contradiction was in them- 
selves, professing as they did to be sound friends, 
whilst their grand object was to undermine Quaker- 
ism — feigning to support that which they were pull- 
ing down; — calling for order to protect disorder ! 

In an interview with the subject of these strictures, 
I informed him that the minds of many friends, were 
possessed of fears in relation to the soundness of his 
writings, and that myself was one of that number ; 
and that he had no occasion to marvel if expression 
were sometimes given to those fears : but if the oc- 
casion of these fears could be removed out of the 
way, that all such fears and expressions would cease. 
He now clearly understood me to be calling upon 
him for a recantation, and immediately entered into 
a prompt defence and justification of the said writ- 
ings — supposed there might be some expressions 
which Friends did not understand, but that there 
was nothing in his doctrines at variance with 
Quakerism ! — but complained of the unfairness of 
Friends, as he deemed it, for sending his last book 
over here to hurt his service, yet seemed not at all 
disposed to concede a single sentiment which it con- 
tained. He plead that it was not puhlished, but 
only printed for private distribution to the minis- 
ters and elders. But I asked him if he did not present 



342 



LETTERS, ETC. 



it to the Morning Meeting in order for publication ? 
To which he rephed that he read it to the Morning 
Meeting, and they separated it from another work 
presented at the same time ; but laid no prohibition 
upon his printing it upon his own responsibility ? 

Now, can we suppose that he would prepare it 
for the press, and finally carry it over the heads of 
that body, and print it for the ministers and elders, 
unless it was a correct transcript of his own senti- 
ments. Nor does he make any pretension that I 
have ever heard, that the views are not his own. 
In the last paragraph of this book he says, 

" Were I required to define Quakerism, I would 
not describe it as the system so elaborately wrought 
out by a Barclay, or as the doctrine and maxims of 
a Penn, or as the deep and refined views of a Pen- 
nington ; for all these authors have their defects as 
well as their excellencies ; — I should call it the reli- 
gion of the New Testament, &c." 

From which proposition these several conclu- 
sions do naturally result, 1st. If Jos. J. Gurney's 
Quakerism is at variance from Barclay, Penn and 
Pennington, it must be of a spurious kind, and not 
entitled to the name ; for there is no other legiti- 
mate Quakerism, but that adopted and defined by 
them and their coinciding cotemporaries ; and the 
name belongs only to a people of their peculiar prin- 
ciples.* 2d. The charge of defection here laid 
upon Barclay, Penn and Pennington, leaves his 
readers entirely at liberty to place them on a level, 
or even below a Wickhflfe, a Baxter, or a Bunyan, in 
point of Christian faith ; for it maybe truly said^ 
that these last had their excellencies as well as their 
defects. 3. This proposition is so shaped that it 



* And for any, as we have heretofore thought, to claim credence 
under this name without a confonnity to its whole creed, is making 
rather free v.dth that which belongeth not to them. 



LETTERS, ETC. 



343 



plainly denies to the doctrine of Barclay, Penn and 
Pennington an accordance with the doctrines of the 
New Testament. 

Finally, if his printed works, (as above shown, 
defended and justified by himself) are to be admit- 
ted as a test of his faith, there can hardly be a doubt 
in the mind of any candid reader, of his readiness of 
mind ior the Society of Friends to make an obvious 
change (in some, at least) of their fundamental doc- 
trines, from those originally acknowledged. And 
probably, as he suggests, so he thinks, that the 
sooner such change is made, (or as he calls it a cor- 
rection of error) the better for the growth of our 
little section of the Christian Church ! But my 
dear friend, I trust there are a few yet among us, 
who are so entirely satisfied that Quakerism is in 
unison with primitive Christianity, (and I can but 
hope that thyself and wife are of this number) that 
they will, regardless of consequences, cleave to it 
without abatement and without a compromise — 
will faithfully watch, guard and testify against all 
innovations, and every doctrine which stands at 
variance with the faith of the true Gospel of life and 
peace as held by our worthy predecessors, let those 
opposing doctrines be advanced and advocated by 
whom they may, and under whatever circumstan- 
ces they may be advanced : — and unto how much 
suflfering of reproach soever the adherence of these, 
to first principles may expose them, it is to be hoped 
that a remnant at least will be found loyal to those 
principles. 

The apprehension that thou might not be in pos- 
session of some of the information above adduced, 
led me the more to consider the propriety of fulfil- 
iing an attraction to duty in thus freely unfolding a 
view, (however imperfectly) of the present aspect 
of things, believing that such as thyself and wife 
ought not to be kept uninformed of those things 



344 



LETTERS, ETC. 



which have so direct a bearing upon the safety of 
our Society. 

And as we can hardly act in a manner purely 
defensive against him who acts in a manner offensive 
without a personal allusion to such an one who has 
taken the field before us, thou wilt expect no further 
apology on that score, it being no more than the 
upholding of Truth's testimonies requires; — and in 
that conclusion I rest, and am thy sincere friend, 
hoping that if thou find any thing exceptionable 
herein contained, that thou wilt freely remark upon 
it, through the same medium of pen and paper. 

JOHN WILBUR. 



THOMAS SHILLITOE'S 

Testimony against the writings of Joseph John Guv- 
ney, delivered by him three days before his de- 
cease^ taken down from his lips by . 

" Thomas Shillitoe said, this testimony rested on 
his mind, and he must have it committed to paper, 
as he found his peace consisted in so doing, (ad- 
dressing .) Thou wilt want a great 

deal of time and patience to hear what I have got 
to say, and it must be faithfully delivered, for I am 
afraid at a future day it will devolve heavy upon 
thy shoulders. It is extr^iordinary that thou 
shouldst have come in at this juncture, for I have 
been wanting my son-in-law to come in and put 
down what I am now better satisfied should be re- 
ceived by thee from my mouth : And I-therefore 
declare, unequivocally against the generality of tho 
writings of Joseph John Gurney, as being non- 
Quaker principles, not sound Quaker principles, but 
EpiscopaUan ones ; and they have done great mis- 
chief in our Society, and the Society will go gradu- 



LETTERS, ETC. 



345 



ally down if it yields to the further circulation of 
that part of his works which they have in their 
power to suppress ; this is my firm belief. I have 
labored under the weight of it for the last twelve 
months, beyond what human nature is able to sup- 
port, and the committee of the Morning Meeting 
which passed that last work, (Gurney's Pecuhari- 
ties, with a new title) must be willing to come for- 
ward to be sufficiently humble to acknowledge their 
error. And the meeting for Sufferings must also 
be wilHng to remove its authority in allowing it to 
be given away to those not of our Society. I de- 
clare the author is an Episcopalian, not a Quaker. 
I apprehend Joseph John Gurney is no Quaker in 
principle. Episcopalian views were imbibed from 
his education and still remain wdlh him. I love the 
man for the work's sake, so far as it goes, but he 
has never been emptied from vessel to vessel, and 
from sieve to sieve, nor known the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost, and of fire to cleanse the floor of his 
heart from his Episcopalian notions. He has spread 
a linsey woolsey garment over our members ; but 
in a future day it will be stripped oft^ it will be too 
short for them, as they will be without Jesus Christ 
the Lord. This is my dying testimony, and I must 
sign it. If 1 had been faithful I should have express- 
ed it in the last Yearly Meeting of ministers and 
elders, (1836,) but I hope I shall be forgiven. Oh 
Lord, accept me with the best I have. 

I have letters from America which confirm me 
in the truths of every part of what I now state. I 
believe there is not an individual member of our 
Society in England, Scotland and Ireland, more wal- 
ling to do good than Joseph John Gurney, but wil- 
lingness is no qualification. This is my dying tes- 
timony to Quaker views, especially as to the minis- 
try ; what was anti-christ in George Fox's days is 
anti-christ now. The clergy of this country, to 
a man, every one of them, are anti-Christ so long 
15^ 



346 LETTERS, ETC. 

as they wear the gowns and receive the pay, and 
condnue building up the people in the rehcts of 
popery, which the church of England left behind : 
it will not do to speak of a man doing a great deal 
for a little pay, and call him a minister of Christ. It 
is a grievous thing that any minister in our Society 
should so speak. They are anti-Christ still, since 
they lead the people from Christ, and yet I love 
some of them for the work's sake, so far as they go. 

The writer was a neighbor of Thomas Shillitoe, 
and came in unexpected : he does not entertain the 
views Thomas Shillitoe did. Thomas Shillitoe's 
daughter and grand-daughter were present at the 
time the above was delivered." 

A few copies have been circulated here (Eng- 
land.) the Friend was so remarkable in his day for 
honest simplicity, and his dying testimony so strik- 
ing and correct ; I have transcribed it for thy peru- 
sal, though to thee unknown, the narrative also is 
very scarce. Truth needs to fear no exposure. 
Error can't too soon be detected, the day calls for 
unflinching integrity. 



To the mernbers of the Yearly Meeting of Ministers 
and Elders, \_Englaiid,'\ 
Dear Friends: — In the feelings, as I apprehend, 
of the pure love of the truth, it seems with me to ex- 
press my fervent desire that those things which 
tend to promote our peace, and things whereby we 
may edify one another may prevail in our minds. 
Some of you know that I manifested my concern 
on account of the Morning Meeting. This concern 
still remaining on my mind, I believe it right to 
communicate something further on the subject. It 
feels trying to me to have thus to plead with my 
friends respecting the Morning Meeting ; but I be- 
lieve I must say it has been a great trouble, both to 



LETTERS, ETC. 



347 



me and to many other Friends who love the triith, 
that the members of that meeting should have pass- 
ed sQch things as they have done in J. J. Gurney's 
writings, both in his works entitled Religious Pecu- 
liarities, &c., but more particularly in the revised 
edition with additions. In these publications there 
is that which I consider very contrary to the prin- 
ciples and doctrines which we, as a people, make 
profession of, and which w^e fully believe to be con- 
sistent w^ith the Scriptures of truth. Also in his 
Essays on Christianity, which I suppose did not 
pass the Morning Meeting, there is much that is 
objectionable. In this publication, there is held forth 
that which Friends and many others have declared 
against as unsafe, dangerous and unauthorized by 
the Scriptures. I mean the speaking of the Father 
as a person, of the Son as a person, and of the Holy 
Spirit as a person. There are several extracts 
from Friend's v/ritings in the first chapter of Thos, 
Evans' Exposition of the Faith of Friends, showing 
the inconsistency and unscriptural m.ode of so speak- 
ing. Richard Clarridge has also w^ritten a tract, 
giving, not only his own views upon it, but the views 
of many Friends and learned authors of different re- 
ligious denominations, such for instance as bishop 
Burnet, Calvin, Luther, Jeremy Taylor, Archbishop 
Tillotson and Usher, with many others whose sen- 
timents are well worthy of our attention. 

The injury J. J. Gurney's writings have done, are 
likely still to do, to our Society, and to the cause of 
trath, seems to me to be very great, and I cannot 
bat conclude that the affectionate part and the 
wisdom of man mast have prevailed in the mind- 
of the members, or they would not have suffers 
ed what they did to pass, and as respects the 
Essays, did not that work require the attention 
of the meeting for Sufferings, to whom is entrust- 
ed a general care of whatever may arise dur- 
ing the interval of the Yearly Meeting affecting 



348 



LETTERS, ETC. 



our religious Society, and requiring its immediate 
attention. And should a work like this, so opposed 
to what the Society has always maintained, be per- 
mitted to be printed and published, and spread ex- 
tensively as this has been, by any members, more 
especially by one in the station of a minister, with- 
out that meeting's declaring against it : seeing more- 
over that works coming from such an one, may, by 
those not acquainted with our principles, be thought 
consistent with them, whilst they are quite the re- 
verse. It is my fervent desire, that Friends who 
have in any way been improperly influenced, may 
be favored to submit to the renewed baptism of the 
Holy Spirit, that so the Divine anointing which 
alone gives clearness of vision may be afforded 
them, and truth without mixture, supported and 
propagated. 

For much mixture, and consequently much w^eak- 
ness, has got in, and has for some years prevailed 

among us. Otherwise, ., ., and . would 

not have been allowed to travel together — to hold 
such meetings, and to propagate such sentiments 
among the young people, as they have done, to the 
occnsioningof a great burden and deep concern in 
the minds of the living members, where such meet- 
ings have been held. Neither would the Yearly 
Meeting of Ministers and Elders have given certifi- 
cates of approval to E. Bates' preaching, which act 
was also a grievous burden to many well concerned 
Friends. 

These things have rested much on my mind, par- 
ticularly during my present illness, and it must be 
very evident that J. J. Gurney's interpretations of 
the Scripture are so contrary to those of the Socie- 
ty from its first commencement, that if his interpre- 
tations are to prevail, then the Society must change 
its ground, and become an inconsistent mixture of 
Quakerism and Episcopalianism. This I believe 
the great Head of the Church will never permit ; 



LETTERS, ETC. 



349 



but those who are unfaithful and turn aside, and 
prove themselves altogether unworthy to support the 
standard and testimonies of truth, will be rejected 
and scattered, w^hilst others will be brought in, and 
prepared, and qualified to unite in maintaining pure 
primitive Christianity, and in showing forth the 
Lord's praise among the nation. 

These things deeply impressed and afl[licted the 
minds of our dear Friends, Thomas Shillitoe and 
John Barclay, who are in mercy gathered to their 
everlasting rest. And now, in thus relieving my 
mind, I have a hope I shall, through the unmerited 
mercy of God in Christ Jesus, be favored to die in 
peace, to enter one of those mansions which our 
blessed Lord declared he went before to prepare for 
his follow^ers, for those who not only believe in his 
outward appearance, but in fulfilling of his promise, 
that he would come again, and that he who was 
wdth them, should be in them, w^ithout which second 
appearance and faithful following of Him in spirit, 
and submitting to his purifying power, how can we 
be prepared for acceptance with him. 

In looking over the foregoing address, you, my 
friends, are afresh brought very near to me, with 
feelings of fervent desire, that we may not be of 
the number of the wise and prudent, from whom 
our Lord said the things whereof he spake were 
hid, but rather that we may be of the babes, unto 
whom they are revealed, having our dependence on 
our Almighty Father for guidance, preservation and 
support, in the way to the kingdom of eternal rest 
and peace. 

I remain your sincere friend, 

GEORGE JONES. 
Stockport, 9th of 5th months 1839. 



350 



LETTERS, ETC. 



RALPH WARDLAW'S 

Opinion of Joseph John Gurney, 

Ralph Wardlaw. a Presbyterian priest of Scot- 
land, called D. D. in letters which he has published, 
addressed to the Society of Friends, on some of 
their distinguishing principles, says : " I have given 
in copious extracts the views of J. J. Gurney, on the 
doctrine of justification. They are clear, simple, 
Scriptural — but are they Qaakerism ? Let none be 
startled by the question ; it is not a hasty, inconsid- 
erate one. I shall show you there is room for it. 
There are large portions of the w^ritings of this 
highly intelligent and devoted Friend, in which we 
entirely lose sight of the peculiarities of Quaker 
sentiments, and Quaker phraseology. He seems to 
lay aside his garb, or rather to divest the system of 
the costume in wiiich before, it had invariably ap- 
peared. But for the occurrence of here and there 
a word, or phrase, which to those familiar with the 
language of the body, conveys more than others 
might at all think of, we go through entire sections 
with unmingled pleasure ; losing the Friend in the 
Christian — almost forgetting even the inward light. 
I presume I speak according to truth, wiien I repre- 
sent them as the first Quaker writings, at least of any 
eminence professing this character. He stands per 
se and (if I am not greatly mistaken) with no incon- 
siderable proportion of the more rigid Friends, who 
belong to the old school, and hold by the ancient 
Fathers of Quakerism, he has on this very account 
been losing caste^ Page 195. 

The terms in which Mr. Gurney invariably 
speaks of the Holy Scriptures, and which it is my 
deliofht to see him usin^r, are such as to convert those 
employed by him respecting the independent innu- 



LETTERS, ETC. 



351 



ence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, into little 
more than words without meaning." Page 351. 

" My judgment and my feelings being in thorough 
accordance with those of Mr. Gurney, in all that he 
says of the paramount authority of the word of God 
as contained in the volume of Revelation, I cannot 
see how he can be in harmony with himself, till he 
has thrown aside the remnant of Quaker doctrine to 
which he still tenaciously clings. I mean this imme- 
diate revelation, under the modified designation by 
which he has chosen to qualify and recommend it. I 
cannot but fancy to myself the surprise and indig- 
nation with which some of the old Fathers of Qua- 
kerism would be stirred, by the attempts to explain 
away to so great an extent their most favorite dog- 
mas, and to fritter down the meaning of their phra- 
seology ; till there is hardly left a shred of distinc- 
tion between them and the Christian world at large." 
Page 35S. 

" It would be unseemly presumption in me to dis- 
pute the accuracy of Mr. Gurney's statement 
respecting the views entertained by his own body : 
but really it is impossible to read the writings of 
the older Quakers — the Fathers of the family, with- 
out being sensible that there is a prodigious soften- 
ing down on the part of this writer of their opinions 
and lano:uao:e." Pao;e 365. 

Mr. Gurney conceives that every true Quaker 
is prepared cordially to acknowledge that the Holy 
Scriptures, and they alone, are a'divinely authorized 
record of all the doctrines which we are required 
to beheve, and of all the moral principles that are 
to regulate our actions, not to mention the lumi- 
nous declaration which they contain of our relative 
and particular duties. 

" And indeed on this, and various other points, it 
cannot fail to strike the most superficial reader, what 
a perfect discordance there is between the writings 
of Mr. Gurney and those of the early Friends. I 



352 



LETTERS, ETC. 



am very far from wishing Mr. Gurney to take a 
single step out of Quakerism, in points where Qua- 
kerism is true. In other points, however, he has 
akeady taken several, and those, too, even larger 
strides than any that now remain for him to take. 
May the Divine Spirit be graciously pleased, by 
means of that complete revelation, which he has 
given to lead not him only but you, my friends, and 
myself, and every fellow-Christian and fellow-man 
around us into all truth'' Page 367. 



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